Stirber Christmas Vacay: The First Third

Greetings from Alaska! It's warming right up so the snow is kind of melting, making all kinds of nice slick spots. We like to keep it interesting for our visitors anyway, so what the heck!!! We're having a really great time with the grandparents. We've gone all kinds of places, had all kinds of adventures. Let the photo documentation begin...

Clay had a Christmas performance at his little preschool church on Sunday... here's a short clip

We have also had a lot of snow (that is melting today... UGH! I hate melting snow.. it makes ice and ice makes driving difficult). Clayton made the kids some snow caves, a little talent he picked up last year at Arctic Survival. They loved them!!

Grandma and Grandpa are being very sporting about Alaska in the winter. We went skiing on Sunday. Grandpa had a tough time but Grandma picked it right back up. The kids were LOVING having her on the slopes. As for Grandpa, well, it didn't go so well. He even had a lesson which also didn't go well. Actually, it went poorly. He got fired from the lesson by an old-time ski instructor. Sad. Embarrassing. Not entirely surprising... He was a good sport about it (ultimately) and when Sports Authority refunded 100% of his ski rental fee for the week, he got over it.

Now, as for Michael. For those of you who don't know, he had been growing his hair out since his retirement from the Guard. He didn't cut it but once in over a year. It was getting a little out of hand... in fact, his kids were sort of giving him a hard time about it (just a little). SO, Michael and I had a little trip to the salon. He ended up getting a really professional looking hair cut but retained some of the length in the front. It looks better.. but I think he's going to forget to get it cut in a few weeks.

Before.

During.

After. So dapper, so professional!

So, needless to say, we're having a great time with the Stirbers. Today has been a baking day. Tomorrow we're headed to Girdwood for a day of skiing (all of us but you-know-who). Will take the camera and post pictures later :) Oh, and Miss Karen is coming for Christmas (did I already say that??) and comes tomorrow night. Good times at the Johnson compound!

CrAzY MoMmY!!!!

I thought I'd drop in and do a quick post before life gets even more crazy around here. We had a really busy week last week.. a really snowy week so far this week. And tonight, Grandma and Grandpa come for the next 12 days!! I am not quite ready but I have until 7:00 tonight :) I do better under pressure (at least that's what I keep telling myself). Yesterday, if you will allow me to vent (but it's my blog, I can vent if I want to!), was one of those days. We've probably had a good 2 feet of snow over the last 48 hours in Eagle River. If you're like me (prior to living here), you think "Get a grip, April. It's Alaska! What do you expect?" Well, actually, it's Alaska, you are correct on that point. However, we generally don't get dumped on like that so the city and the snowplowers can't keep up with the snow when it comes in buckets. That means driving conditions, even for here, are poor at best. I got stuck yesterday taking Clay to school. I knew enough to know that I wasn't going to get myself out so Clay and I ended up walking the last .5 mile (uphill, in the dark, while snowing) to his school. We were both a mess when we got there. Fortunately, the pastor and another dad took it upon themselves to extricate the Tahoe without calling the tow truck (my idea). I was thankful God provided them. It saved me some $$ for sure. But my pride took a nice beating in the process :) Once I finally got home, I stayed home! Oh, and before you ask, NO! OUR TAHOE IS NOT 4WD! We bought it in Texas before AK was even a blip on the radar. And, NO! We're not buying another car right now. We are enjoying not having car payments.. I now have a tow strap and chains in the car so I'm pretty much ready for the next time. And YES! I know how to put the chains on. OH! One more thing, AT&T cell customers (of which I am one) had no cell service in the state of AK yesterday, to answer any lingering questions you might have had :)

I actually feel better after the rant. If I learned one thing, it's that God is indeed faithful in the small details and that he provides in His own way (my idea was for him to pick my car up and plop it at the top of the hill in a miraculous fashion..) and it met and exceeded my needs for yesterday, like always. BUT, if you are feeling sorry for me, remember it when you see a mom out by herself who needs an extra hand.. at the airport, the grocery store (shoveling snow for the 6th time in 48 hours..)! Even if her husband is in the state, if he's not there and she needs help, give it! I have had so much help from people the last few days with this weather and Clayton being away.

I digress... We are really looking forward to Anne and Mike being here this Christmas. My good friend Karen from Denver will also be with us on Christmas and we're happy to provide a White Christmas for the visitors. My kids have been counting down days since December 1. They are excited for an audience while skiing and sledding. I'm excited for some extra hands as I have done very little wrapping of gifts and no baking :) This is not my Christmas letter post so I'll shut up for now.

Here's a photo journal of what we've been up to the last week or so :)

Us before the first of 2 Christmas parties..

Kara and I going to a tea at church on Saturday morning. Clay was clearly going to enjoy his lounging morning at home with Dad (they went skiing later).

Clay and Kara watching Christmas movies. A rare moment of close-quartered seating without hitting, kicking, whining and tattling.

Our backyard after big snow #1.

Our back deck 8 hours later, the next morning.

The Johnsons (Griswolds) Go Skiing

So we went skiing for the first time this season yesterday afternoon. We love, and by we, I mean Clayton, to go skiing at Hillberg (on Emlendorf AFB) after 4:00pm because it's half price. Seemed like a good call for our first go of the season.. our kids did really well last season but I was kind of expecting some backsliding this year so if it was half-price (even though it's pitch black outside at 4:00pm), we could get over it if it was a complete FAIL. I should have known things weren't going to go smoothly simply based on the fact that it took me an hour to get the kids' season rental skis at Sports Authority. That should take about 20 minutes..and no one else was in line. Hmmm. BUT, I didn't let that daunt me. NO WAY! I'm an Alaska MOM! We're going skiing! Second road block: Kara left her snow pants at home. The ONE thing she was responsible for. OK, I'm cool (well, if a raging lunatic is cool, I'm cool). I run into the BX to buy another snow suit (multiples are a good thing). Guess what?? The stupid BX is OUT of snow suits and pants. Figures. What to do?? By now, it's darn near 4:00, dark and cold. Clayton is working (on Sunday, yes) and meeting us at the hill at 4:00. He NEVER answers his cell phone.. What to do? Go to Target, off base, and buy said snowsuit. So, Alaska Mom that I am, I drive off base, go to Target and find a snow suit in record time . Yay me! I drive BACK ON the base and trek out to Elmendorf. By now, It's about 4:30.. Not only are we meeting Clayton, we're meeting our neighbors. We're late. OH, and did I mention?? Driving on base while talking on cell phones is frowned upon mightily. I did not make or receive any calls while driving (Why? Because not only am I an Alaska Mom, I follow rules like any good firstborn!). FINALLY, we get to Hillberg and on the lift by 4:40. Kids do well getting on the lift and, not only that, they make it down the hill without any trouble. JOY! BLISS! All the drama was worth it!! (insert screeching brake noise HERE) Not so fast... after a few runs, our friends leave to go home so we decide it is a good time for a potty break. And maybe a snack because I, naturally, forgot to bring any snacks with me (still Alaska Mom). I order some food, the Claytons get a table but where is Kara?? Clayton goes looking for her and he hears her in the bathroom. She's screaming. Hysterically. Saying "APRIL! APRIL JOHNSON!". What does Clayton do? Well, he does what Dads do.. he got me. I go into the bathroom and find poor Kara has had an "accident". She didn't quite make it to the potty, poor sugar. And she is a disaster! Granted, everything from her snowsuit to her ski boots are soaking wet.. we did the best we could but, suffice it to say, her skiing was over for the day. That's when I started to get the hint that maybe skiing wasn't the best plan for Kara.. I had the "signs" but I chose to ignore them. Oh well, not the first and certainly not the last time that will happen (well, at least we hope it's the last time Kara has that kind of accident).

Nonetheless, we had a grand time skiing (except for the obvious). The kids did AWESOME! Clay was "yee-haw'ing" all the way down the hill.. in between his famous "Winner, winner, chicken dinner" calls :) I got to try out my brand new skis and they were awesome, too. I have learned to love the snow and I love that our kids are growing up skiing. You would love it, too, if you came to visit :)

That little blob in the middle of the photo is Clay coming down his last run of the day.

Here he is a little closer.

Thanksgiving Recap

We had a lovely Thanksgiving here in Eagle River, Alaska. There were 19 at our house for the meal! No one no-showed and no one straggled in. Success!! There was too much food and lots of fun. If I may say, this was my best turkey EVER! Same darn recipe since 2000 and I finally mastered it (of course, will have to change completely next year because simply saying this, I have jinxed myself). Turkey is the one thing we came close to running out of. The kids LOVED having big kids around to play hide-n-seek and other games.

Amy stayed until late last night. I managed to get most of my Christmas shopping done, but only sent a few things back to AZ with her.. that means I get to brave the post office multiple times yet again this year..JOY!!!! We got some tubing in on Saturday night as well. It has been snowing a lot..until last night when the rain came. Rain + Snow = SUCKAGE! The roads are like ice skating rinks now.. and the snow is no good for skiing. BOO!!!

Oh well, it means that I must begin decorating for Christmas, I guess. Here's hoping everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for despite any errant circumstances. Our pastor at church on Sunday mentioned 2 Corinthians 4:17 where Paul writes about our light and momentary troubles.. It challenged me to look at all my "issues" in a different way, that's for sure. SO, I will resume my chorus of "this is the day that the Lord has made.. I will rejoice and be glad in it!"... (even if occasionally with gritted teeth)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the North Pole!! We have so much to be thankful for at the Johnson Casa.. My sister is flying up tonight to spend Thanksgiving with us.. we have a friend from Bethel, AK, in town as well. Tomorrow is Linner (lunch-dinner) with the Sutterfields, the Finchers and the Lands (Finchers are Jim and Carol, Anne Stirber's (Clayton's mom) first cousins. The Lands are the Fincher's good friends, he did our landscaping this summer). I am praying that it is a great afternoon/evening. I think the food is going to be yummy and plentiful.

Things I am thankful for:

* God's provision and grace to us this last year

* Safe flights for Clayton

* Healthy kids

* A beautiful home, food in the fridge, lights turned "on"

* Fabulous friends in AK (an unexpected blessing with this move)

* Healthy family members outside AK

* many, many more....

If you are reading this blog, I am thankful for you!!!! We're going to miss our AZ family and the annual celebration and the Woods' house as well as the mega-family gathering in Duncan. We love you guys in AZ and we're with you in our thoughts tomorrow (and all the other days as well). Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

A Presidential Visit, A Sledding Misadventure and Other Randomness

Sorry to say that this post will be without pictures (insert big sigh here). Clayton took the camera to work last week and he went to Vegas this morning for this week and I still don't know where my camera is.. He took it to work last week to get a picture of Air Force One on the tarmac at Elmendorf. Yep, you guessed who our mystery guest was last week in AK. Mr Prez himself. It was his first trip to Alaska and he got off AFO during a refueling stop to "rally the troops". A two hour stop apparently constitutes a visit to a state even though those Facebook quizzes say you can't count a state as visited if you just were in the airport for a layover... anyway, I guess when you're the president, you get to make your own rules.. Anyway, there was much pomp and circumstance at EAFB concerning this visit, you can imagine. It turns out, they actually used the 525 (Clayton's flying squadron) hangar for the staging for the speech. Maybe you all didn't know, Clayton flies F22's so the 525 hanger actually stores F22 jets (weird, I know).. which the President's advisors promptly had removed (insert sound of a record being scratched and brakes being applied squeakily). Oh, and the president also wouldn't sign anything that had an F22 logo on it. So all those pictures, t-shirts, hats that had F22s on them, right, his aides informed the pilots he wouldn't sign them. Oh, and the F22s that they made the maintainers move from the hangar, they replaced with an F15 that is headed to the bone yard. And let me also add that Clayton's butt was in the alert shack (F22s on 24 hour alert to keep the Russians in check).. and there were 2 F22s flying air-support during Barack's (I'm going to call him by his first name, we're all equals here in AK) visit.. BUT, by all means, make sure the man isn't photographed with one. WHAT?!?! I digress.. He said some nice words about military families and blew other assorted smoke up people's hind-ends. I think people enjoyed lining up for his kool-aid. I mean, it was a historical event and I'm sure my kids would have appreciated the opportunity to see a real live president had I not had other plans that day. (I guess the logic for the advisors, let's lay blame where it is due (snicker, snicker), is that one of Barack's first acts as president was to effectively kill the F22 program. Forget about the billions already spent on the program that he wasted signing off on the bill...again, I digress. I guess he wouldn't want to appear hypocritical being photographed with or around an F22).

UGH!! I thought I'd feel better after the rant but I don't. Now I'm going to post a picture of us as a family.. we're not ashamed to be photographed with an F22.

And here's another one of Clayton who is not ashamed to FLY and F22 let alone be photographed in one.

(please don't let my irritation offend those of you who are big fans of his.. really, I respect the office and all that.. I do. I was just (and am obviously still) VERY ANNOYED by the behavior of his advisors..who speak for him)

********onwards and upwards*********

So we've got some snow.. and we're sledding. Clayton took the kids one evening last week and they had a great time. So good, in fact, that Kara's dinner prayer went something like this: "Dear God, thank you for this wonderful day. Thank you for my friends and my good day at school. Thank you for our food. Oh! And thank you for my awesome crash. Amen." I guess when Clayton was "launching" Kara down the hill, he ended up launching her off the sidewalk and she ended up sailing off a 6 foot "cliff"/retaining wall onto our street. Sweet! NOT!! We're thankful she wasn't hurt and we've spent much time reviewing how that is not awesome... My sweet little adrenaline junky.

Clay-Clay is good, too.. he's a hoot. He found out his friend Ryan's mom is pregnant and asked us how you get pregnant. I told him that God gives you babies. Fortunately, it satisfied him (for now). UGH!!!!

The kids and I are on our own this week, as mentioned above. Sadly, it's been below zero and is predicted to remain that way for the week. I'm sorry, but just like 115 is hot, anything below zero is cold. We've got the proper cold-weather gear but it just doesn't cut it when it's that cold. I went for a walk this morning and I forgot how unforgiving frost on the upper-lip can be.. in other words, I will be waxing my lip tonight or I will never live it down once Clayton gets home. Ah, the joys of arctic living. Wish you were here :)

Snow!!!!

We had our first "measurable" snow last night.. it was a winter wonderland (or horrorland, depending on the person/driver) this morning. I was patting myself on the back having gotten all the appropriate snow gear together for the kids. Sadly, however, I didn't bother to see if Clay-Clay's snowboots still fit. They don't. Not even close. Ooops. At least he had his snowsuit, jacket, gloves and hat. I'll find some boots before Wednesday (unless there's been a run on size 12 kids snowboots..which there probably has been).

Here are some pics of this morning.

Clay getting carried into school..no snowboots.

Kara on her way into the school.. see how dark it still is at 9:00??

IDK.. I think we got like 6"?

My personal sidewalk-shoveler. Thankfully he was going to work later today and shoveled for me.