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!!!

Weekend Fun

This weekend we made a trip up to our cabin on the Salcha river with Tucker. The cabin is about 20 miles up river, so it took us about 30 minutes on the snowmachines. Tucker ran for a few miles and then decided that it was much less work to ride in the comfort of his dad's lap.

I wish I had the luxury of being snug and warm under a blanket in Chris's arms while he did all the work!! As you can tell Tucker is very spoiled :) Snowmachining just isn't the same anymore...I didn't fit into any of my gear so I had to borrow my dad's. Also, you would be amazed at all of the stomach muscles you use while snowmachining, the bumpy trail was quite a workout for baby Bunch and I!

For Valentines day we were invited to a dinner to celebrate Lincoln's 200th birthday. It wasn't an ideal romantic evening, but we enjoyed each others company and the opportunity to dress up and meet prominent people around the community.

We listened to many interesting speeches...including one from Governor Sarah Palin. She is a beautiful woman and a very articulate speaker. It was fun to see her in person and to listen to her poke fun at all of the jokes that have been made about her.

We enjoyed the evening with my parents. Here is a picture of my mom and me; we didn't plan our outfits, it was a complete coincidence that our dresses were very similar!!


Nine years ago today Chris entered my life and it has been an amazing journey. I have put up a slide show of the past few years so that I can share some of the wonderful memories that we have together. We have gone through a lot together and have grown into each others best friends. I couldn't imagine a better person to walk through life's adventures with.

Sssh...it's a Secret

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Monday and are happy to report that baby Bunch is healthy and growing strong; we are about a week ahead of schedule due to the size of the baby. Chris and I have decided not to find out the sex and are going to wait and make it a big surprise. Instead of posting ultrasound pictures and showing everyone that our baby looks like an alien, I decided to post pictures of what it could possibly look like in a few years.

Layla Marie Bunch


OR

Cooper Michael Bunch

Megan Bares All

It seems as though baby Bunch has gone through quite a growth spurt these past few weeks. My belly is growing before our very own eyes. I thought I would give you a first hand experience of this transformation.

This picture was taken last year when we traveled to Belize for our honeymoon. We were able to hold nurse sharks while snorkeling (they looked like giant cat fish!). I promise it is me in the picture, Chris just forgot to include my head!

12 weeks, at which point I thought my belly was really noticeable...ha baby Bunch was just trying to fool me :)

Here is my newly transformed belly at 19 weeks...a far cry from the cute little flat belly in a bikini!!

Everything is going well for the Bunch's, we are staying busy working too much! We are in the process of transitioning Tucker into staying at home every other day (he has been going to work with me since he was a puppy).

He is doing well and hasn't chewed up anything...yet! He just has this weird quirk of bringing an item of Chris's and mine to the door every time we leave him. It is always something new and normally something really odd. Yesterday he brought to the door Chris's hair brush and the blanket I sit with on the coach every night. I think he is looking forward to having someone to play with because on Sunday we had friends over for the Superbowl and he followed the kids around all day long like they were best friends; he drug them around with his rope, sat on the coach next to them, played hide and seek with them, and of course loved to eat snacks with them (he is getting good at vacuuming up the crumbs)! I will have pictures of Tucker's new brother/sister soon because we have our next ultrasound on Monday!

New Job

It has been brought to our attention that Chris has all of the necessary attributes for a new job. Check it out for yourself:



Spencer Pratt from the TV series "The Hills"





Okay, so I know that Tucker isn't as cute as the girl, but you get my point! Chris and I don't watch the TV series, but when I saw the picture of Spencer in People magazine, I started to see dollar signs!! I think there is a striking resemblance, minus the blonde.



As you can tell from my earlier blogs, all that people in Fairbanks talk about is the weather. If you live here or have been here you would know what I am talking about (because there is nothing else to talk about!!). I previously posted that it was about 40° to 50° below zero. Well last week we had a dramatic 100° temperature change, and it got up to 52 above zero. But don't worry, that only lasted for a few days and we are expecting -40° by Friday. So, it is off to split more wood and wait by the phone for Hollywood to call :)