Take a peak by May 31st

Last weekend was beautiful in Fairbanks, and Chris and I soaked up every bit of sun that we could. We had a very relaxing weekend and enjoyed our time together. We were supposed to go up to the cabin on the Salcha river for the weekend, but Chris's dad's airboat was having problems, so we ended up staying in town. On Monday we took my dad's boat up the Chena River to have lunch on the riverbank.

We didn't know if the boat would scare Tucker, but obviously he did just fine!!

Chris worked really hard this weekend to get Tucker used to the water, and as you can see Tucker caught on really quick. It was the strangest thing, he would get into the water about chest deep but wouldn't take the plunge in to swim. He would duck his entire head under the water to get rocks and sticks from the ground but he was really uncomfortable swimming. Chris threw him in the water, but that didn't work out too well because he just panicked and almost drowned himself. So we remembered that he is a Labrador so he would be food driven, and lured him out there with treats....sure enough he started swimming in minutes!!

We also got maternity photos taken by Chelsey Mach (thanks to Michel for finding her....she is amazing). We took photos late at night on Friday at Skiland, and it was such a fun time. She did a wonderful job and captured some amazing moments the 4 of us had! She has a gallery of the session online, but it expires on May 31st, so please take a look before they expire!

They are located at http://machcphotography.com/clients
Email: clutz01@hotmail.com

Access code: Tucker

Click on My Favorites to view the ones that Chris and I fell in love with.

On The Road Again

Chris and I headed out of town again last weekend and took a road trip down to Valdez. We left late Thursday night after child birthing classes and Chris booked it down there in 5 hours. The road isn't the best and so between going 800 miles an hour (I might be exaggerating a little bit) and the windy bumpy road, I was feeling a little queasy. We made it down there all in one piece and met my dad, Aunt and Uncle as well as one of my cousins. My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to invite us down to go shrimping in with their boat, just in time for me to actually enjoy myself (I am getting bigger by the minute).

As you can see we were quite successful in getting some huge shrimp. Yes I am a weeny and had to wear gloves because the little creatures scared me a bit, and yes the shrimp laid down comfortably on my belly!

I did not take part in the processing part because frankly I am a bleeding heart and felt bad for the shrimp. So my dad and Uncle ripped the heads off the shrimp while my Aunt and cousin deshelled them. Chris and I do not eat seafood but we tried the fresh shrimp and actually enjoyed them, they weren't fishy tasting nor did they have a rubbery texture.
In between shrimping we toured Valdez and got to see some amazing sights and wildlife. I saw more Alaskan wildlife on this trip than I ever have. On our way down we saw some caribou hanging out on the side of the road, some porcupine, and a ton of rabbits.

While driving around in the boat we saw sea lions, sea otters, whales, dolphins, bald eagles, and even a black bear.

It has been warm and a big section of a glacier had broken off, so we ran into a bunch of ice coming out of the Narrows. The colors and mass of the chunks of glacier was breathtaking.

Like I mentioned to you before I am growing by the minute. My belly is getting HUGE, and I still have a month and a half left...yikes! But baby Bunch and I are still doing great, we are staying as active and busy as possible, although at times that can be challenging :)

A Bunch of Busy Bees!

Chris and I have been really busy these past few weeks, and are trying to take full advantage of our time and energy before baby Bunch arrives!! Over the past few months we have been taking Tucker to retrieving classes and not to be a biased bragging mom but he is really starting to shine! Chris got a little frustrated with us this past weekend because he has been busy the past few weekends so I ended up taking Tucker to class, and so at the beginning of class Tucker brought the dummy to me instead of Chris. Hey I can't help it :) But the two of them quickly fell into sync and did an amazing job!

The picture above shows a tricky test for Tucker, he had to watch people throw 2 different dummies, memorize where they fell, and then go retrieve each one individually and drop it at Chris's feet. Notice Chris's shorts, it was 75° this weekend....yea summer is finally here!

We got Tucker August 1st last year, and so he was too little to learn to swim. Well, we thought that swimming is instinct for retrievers....but we thought wrong. This was his first time swimming through the water, and he wasn't too sure about the freezing cold water. Chris and Tucker had to climb in the boat and then someone shot a gun and threw a dummy in the water. Tucker had to jump out of the boat, swim through the water, get the dummy, swim back through the water, and then jump back into the boat and bring it to Chris. It was quite a task, and about half way through the pond Tucker decided that it would be way easier to swim to the side of the pond, run on land to the dummy, and then run on land back to Chris. After a few tries, he got the hang of it!

At night, we have slowly been working on the nursery when we have a chance. We decided we wanted to keep Chris's red wall, but tone it down a little with stripes. Easier said then done, stripes take a LOT of time...but we are really happy with the end result. Chris spent hours taping the lines for the brown stripes and then decided we would paint the next night. Well then Tucker decided the next day that he was bored because he got left home and he would have some fun taking the tape down. So then Chris re-taped a few stripes and we painted a few every night. After we finished painting the brown stripes, Chris had the creative idea of adding little dark brown stripes on each side of the light brown. Yikes, he had to tape 36 lines! But it was worth it! While he was busy with the stripes, I painted the other walls a light brown. Because I am a little OCD, I had to make life interesting and trim the ceiling and sides by hand. Which for a normal person isn't that big of a deal, but with my huge belly it proved to be a little challenging. My belly had to fit between the steps in the ladder, and I had to hold the paint can because I got tired of going up and down the ladder!

Last weekend Chris and I took a road trip down to Anchorage for a hockey tournament...and shopping of course. We left Thursday night, and happened to pick the worst weather to travel in. It snowed pretty much the entire way down, but we still managed to make it down there in 5 and a half hours. We relaxed the entire weekend and didn't get very much shopping in but we really enjoyed our time together. Chris's team won 1 game and lost the other 2, they were close games and he had a fun time, so it looks like we will be going down next year!

On the slate for this week is to finish up the nursery, work on cleaning up the outside of the house (yes the snow has finally all melted away!), and go to birthing classes. I will keep you updated!

Snowmachining in Cantwell

After weeks of begging, Chris finally caved in and took me on one of his snowmachine trips to Cantwell. As you can see, I can't even fit into Chris's XL snowpants...my belly is getting so big that I couldn't even zip them up!!

Chris loves to snowmachine in Cantwell, although it is about a 2 and a half to 3 hour drive out of town. It is a long trip to take every weekend just to ride for about 4 to 5 hours, but it truly is a little slice of heaven.

I tried to keep up with the boys (in hopes that I am not dragging them down and get to go with them again!!), and rode everywhere they went and then sat at the bottom of the hills and took pictures of them jumping cliffs! Chris is an amazing rider and it is fun to watch him carve through 5 feet of snow and jump his 460lb sled in the air.

He loves to carve through the trees, but this weekend it was a little difficult because there was a ton of fresh snow to maneuver around...and sometimes the trees got in his way!

I can't tell if the baby enjoyed the ride or was annoyed by it because it kicked all day long! Chris thinks that it was just telling me to go faster! Snowmachining in the mountains is a lot of work to begin with, add a few (I am being modest) pounds and you get a heck of a work out. My ab muscles were sore on Monday, but I had a wonderful time and was glad to be able to enjoy Chris's passion with him at 7 months pregnant :)

World Ice Art Championship

Spring is coming to Fairbanks...the sun rises before 8:00am and sets after 8:00pm, the roads are starting to turn into mush, the temperature is above 30°, Chris is busy snow machining on the weekends, and poop is appearing throughout our yard. A Spring family tradition is to walk around the World Ice Art Championship and see all of the amazing ice sculptures.

This year was no exception, they had sculptures of all shapes, sizes, and designs. It always amazes me how some of the artists can conceptualize an idea, draw it on paper, and then carve it out of a block of ice.

Here is one of my favorite multi-block ice sculptures depicting Alaska animals playing instruments!

Here's a picture of my parents posing in front of the BP ice stage.

Here is our favorite single block ice sculpture.

Every year they have huge ice slides for the kids...and us adults who are kids at heart! We convinced my parents to slide down it first, they easily glided down the giant slide on their butts and then my dad found a plastic sled that he thought would be fun to use. My mom was the first one to go down the slide with a sled. My dad didn't realize that plastic sled + ice = launching down the ice slide, so he gave her a little nudge and she flew down it. Chris went next and launched himself beyond the slide and over a giant dip in the snow sending him into the air and into a snow bank!! My dad and I learned from their mistakes and enjoyed our rides!

Baby Bunch is doing well and getting bigger by the day. I passed my diabetes test, thankfully because diabetes is very genetic in our family, and have to get my RH shot in a few weeks. Chris and I started to work on the nursery, and I am excited to see how it is going to turn out...hopefully pictures will be coming soon. We have started retrieving classes with Tucker, and it has been a little challenging. He does great at retrieving the dummies and bringing them back to you, but he gets a little distracted when we have to walk in a circle with 20 other dogs and heel. This weekend Chris has to go to training for work, so hopefully the stubborn guy will listen to me even though I am definitely not the alpha dog in the family :)

Viva Las Vegas!

We made it back from our trip to Las Vegas, and it was a perfect weekend that went by way to fast! Here are some highlights and pictures of the trip:

Here is the classic Las Vegas sign that is on the side of the road as you enter the strip. They have a parking lot where you can park and take pictures in front of the sign, but my dad didn't want to stop and Chris didn't want to take a cheesy picture so this is as good as it gets!!!

We stayed at the Venetian resort, which was absolutely beautiful. The ceilings were painted like the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel and they had a canal running through the hotel. You could take a gondola ride through the canal with a singing boat paddler. It was wonderful and most importantly had amazing food. There were over 20 restaurants in the hotel, which was a definite plus for a pregnant woman!! All of them had great food, great service, and reasonable prices.

As you know, we went to Las Vegas so my dad and Chris could play in a hockey tournament. The first picture is of my dad and the second one is of Chris. Their team didn't do too hot, and lost all three games, but they had fun. It was great hockey to watch, all of the teams were good and fairly even...our only down fall was that none of the players on our team had played or practiced together so it wasn't until the end of the last game that they clicked.


It was my mom's birthday on Sunday, so we celebrated on Saturday at Wolfgang Puck. Once again, the food was amazing and the waiter even brought her out a special treat, with Happy Birthday written on the plate in chocolate! Afterwards my mom headed up to her room for a relaxing bath (they had flat screen TVs in the bathrooms) and to catch up on some sleep. Meanwhile we headed off to gamble with my father...until 4 in the morning! We all had a great time, and I learned the in and outs of Black Jack from our friendly dealer as well as a little help from my dad! Did I mention that Chris and I multiplied our money by 5 and my dad came out ahead with 6 times the amount he started with. Time passes by quickly when you are having fun, well and making money helps too!!

On Friday we went to the Cirque Du Soleil show "Ka". It was absolutely amazing, and a fabulous production. We sat there for 2 hours with our jaws dropped in awe of the athleticism of the actors/performers and the 360° revolving stage that had an LED lit surface. Afterwards we gambled a little bit and then walked almost the entire strip (which is a challenging task when you are pregnant and in flip flops!) On our long journey we got to see the water show at the Bellagio, walk through Caesar's Palace, and pass down about a hundred offers for Escorts (people were lined up on the streets passing out little cards!)

There was so much to do and see and so little time...I guess we will have to make another trip down there one of these days:)

23 Weeks

I once again have to bare all so that everyone can see that my belly is expanding by the days. Time is flying by so fast, it is hard to believe that I am already almost 6 months along. Baby Bunch is growing extremely fast, and appears to have a little attitude. Yesterday we experienced watching my belly move as the baby was kicking up a storm, I couldn't tell if it was kicking because I was hungry or because I was poking at my belly!! I am fascinated by the whole experience, it has been absolutely amazing! I feel on the slightly large size because people ask me when my due date is and when I reply with June 28Th, they give me the long disappointed "Ohhhh" like they were expecting me to say I was due next week.

I managed to pull off a surprise birthday party for Chris this past weekend, and we had a great time seeing everyone. Life gets busy, so it is always nice to catch up with all of our friends. Chris didn't make it very long into the night, it seems as though the porcelain goddess was calling his name:)

We are traveling to Vegas tonight with my parents so that Chris and my dad can play in a hockey tournament. I am excited for some relaxation and sun. This will be our first time both leaving Tucker, I am sure he will do fine without us.....but he is our first child and might I mention spoiled. How do I tell the house sitter to follow all of our quirky habits, like letting him in after you've taken a shower so that he can drink the water, or letting him go with you every time you run an errand and rolling down the window in the car (even though it is 0°), or letting him cuddle with you in the bed, or throwing his golf ball at night....okay I will stop now before everyone thinks we are crazy. He will survive, and so will I after we land in hot weather with plenty of time for naps!!!