I love you katie!

In case you don't know her, this is my amazing, beautiful, talented best friend, Katie. She not only kept me sane two weeks ago [a challenging task at best] she also planned a super-fun bachelorette party, fabulous ladies night at the lodge and held my hand through some crazy moments last week.

She's probably still having nightmares about me saying, "Katie, don't let me forget ..."

This is us on her first night in town having drinks at Rum Runners. She couldn't get over the midnight sun and kept texting people photos of it.

Portage Glacier Cruise

Wednesday before the wedding, some of our out-of-town guests joined us for a hour-long Portage Glacier Cruise. It was a beautiful, warm day. Plus, we met a very special tour guide we lovingly nicknamed Beardsley McGlacier face.

I have some serious blogging to do

The past two weeks have been a blur of family and friends from afar, tying billions of little ribbons, delicious food, tourist trips and Alaska adventures. I'm still sorting through and properly archiving the images from my camera and iPhone. This weekend I hope to blast my blog with posts from the following:

• Portage Glacier Cruise with our out-of-town friends
• Pictures of my dad helping the girls tie ribbons and cut fabric for my many DIY wedding details, plus close ups of programs, centerpieces, decorations and favors. I love how everything turned out thanks to lots of help from lots of people and can't wait to share our creativity.
• Girls night out
• Barbecue at the Hamiton's complete with a tree swing and live music
• A weekend of wedding festivities: Bonfires, random guitar sessions, decorating, wedding pics and more
• Hiking to Russian River Falls the day after the wedding near Cooper Landing
• The amazing all-day cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park with my new in-laws, husband and son

Today is my first day back a work. I miss my wonderful friends and family already and wish I could have had more time showing everyone the beautiful place I live. Sometimes it takes new eyes to renew wonder in your surroundings. Like how everyone awed at the midnight sun. But it's also nice to take a deep breath after all the excitement and settle back into regular life.

I've never been so tired as I was the days following the wedding. One night I slept 13 hours after having napped much of the day.

Until I post, there are some nice pictures of facebook posted my my former ADN coworker Mike Lewis and a few others.

Birthday bike

Davin got a bike for his birthday. He was super excited to travel the neighborhood on it. I think the helmets are way cooler than when I was a kid.

Birthday time

Davin's 10th birthday was Monday. We had a kids' party on Sunday afternoon with pizza, cake, video games and lots of candy. Davin helped me bake his birthday cake.

A first with our new five-peice cake set, the first official wedding gift. Anyone know who this came from? The return address was Target.com with no indication of the giver. Thank you!

I know more people with May birthdays than any other month. Especially May 15-20. Happy Birthday to all my May birthday friends!

Scapegoats

Oh the fun of working with a bunch of graphic designers. Our web guru Steve Keller (not pictured) is a bit of a Photoshop wizard. He created this propaganda-inspired poster of our production crew for the fun of it. The Russian text says scapegoats. Left to right: Dave, Germaine, Frank, myself and Nadya. The face lurking the the background is our boss, Tim.

Hidden snow and the ice cream truck

 

Davin and I took a walk to Valley of the Moon Park on Saturday afternoon for a picnic in the park. It was a beautiful day. Two ice cream trucks had a heyday sitting in the parking lot waiting for kids to drag their parents over. Ice cream trucks need no marketing other that persuasive children. All the owners have to do is drive around and turn on that annoying music. Children yell, "ICE CREAM MAN," and it's all over. 

Above Davin tries to multitask scooting and enjoying a Choco-Taco. Needless to say, I ended up carrying the scooter the rest of the way home. Below is a rouge pile of snow we discovered in the shade on this 60-degree day.