The Hairless wonder

Brighton probably has the least amount of hair out of all the babies I know! She is super bald. Well, the only area that her her really grows is the back, which makes her look like a balding old man. So she finally had enough hair to put into a sickly ponytail and I thought I'd share the little rat tail pics for everyone to see! I'll definitely have to show these to her boyfriends in the future! I'll never let her live this one down!

"Boo"

On Saturday we went to the duck pond in town and it was a lot of fun! They have a ton of ducks there and a few peacocks all over the place and Brighton was loving her life! I've been showing her blue things and she started saying the word "blue" (it actually comes out "boo")! We couldn't believe it! Well the peacock was blue and she kept saying it and pointing to it! It was crazy! What a little girl she's getting to be! In one week she'll already be 1! Time goes by too quickly! I guess we should enjoy the time we have now and we sure did this weekend!

'Orange' you glad for babies?

Brighton has gotten to the point where I can turn my back on her for a second and she'll be knee-deep in trouble when I turn back around. Well, I was getting her dinner ready and she managed to pull the entire fruit basket from behind her booster chair and started mowing on some oranges. She then proceeded to find the kiwis and eat the hair off of them! Gross huh?! She finally broke the skin to the kiwi and actually enjoyed the fruit inside. Well, instead of taking them away like any normal mom would do, I decided it was a great photo op! Let's just hope she continues this love for vitamin C and healthy nutrients in the future!

I'm hooked

Since I've been a little on the lonely side up here in AK I've had to find a few hobbies. Knitting being one and card making being another. My friend started ordering all this stampin' up stuff and invited me to a party which totally reeled me in. So now I'm a little embarrassed to say that I'm hooked on their stuff! Well, the demonstrator of the stamp stuff talked me into having a hostess party which I'm having tonight and am very nervous about because I'm not good at the whole product party thing so wish me luck! If you have a minute and feel like looking at super creative stuff go to www.stampinup.com

Early Birthday Surprise

We recieved a package the other day from Grandma and Grandpa Comin and inside was an early birthday gift for Brighton. It was a special Carebear which she loved! She is obsessed with giving kisses to her stuffed animals and in the pic above she giving it a big smooch! She hasn't mastered the whole kiss thing because she leaves her mouth wide open and drools all over. Needless to say, you definitely get a mouthful when she puckers up! Well anyway, thanks Gma and Gpa Comin! You're great!
One last thing. Brighton has been doing this crazy thing lately when she gets excited. She clenchs her fists and teeth and tightens every body part and her eyes get really wide. Then she shakes! It's like she's really cold or trying to flex or something like that! There's a pic of it above but it doesn't do it justice. I'll try to post a video once I figure out how to get one on! Well, hope all is well with everyone! Thanks again to Van and Wendy for the birthday box!

Crabby Cakes

No Brighton hasn't been too crabby lately but she did have her very first taste of king crab! She loved it! She also shared an asparagus tip with her daddy! We had a great dinner last night and Brighton finally got to sit and eat adult food with the family!

Happy Easter

We just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Easter and show you a few pics of our day. Well we went to church and thought we'd take a family pic for all to see. After church, we had Brighton find her Easter basket and she seemed to LOVE all the candy inside. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to eat any of it so she acquired quite a taste for the wrappers. Anyways, we hope everyone had a great day because I know we did!

Our little monkey

This was Brighton's first banana experience. Kyle was eating breakfast and Brighton crawled right up and started chowing down. I think she was just super excited that she was eating big kid food instead of baby mush. So I guess we found her new favorite food!

Good Read

We started this book club in our ward and last night was our first monthly meeting. We read the book called Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate. It was a pretty good book and a little bit of a tear jerker in the end. I just wanted to recommend it to everyone. It has a good message about what matters most in life...family. So if you're interested pick it up!

Good News from a friend

We have these friends in our ward named Delmar and Jared Foley and about a month after we moved into the ward, they received a foster baby from the Alaska Native hospital that was 2 weeks old! They've been going about every way to start a family and they've been on the foster care list for a while, so it was a great blessing to have Taya. Well, Brighton and Taya are about a month and a half apart so they've enjoyed hanging out together. Well, right from the very beginning, Delmar and Jared have been trying to adopt little Taya, but since she was an Alaska Native baby, the state has to go back to the village and see if anyone in the tribe wants her. And if they don't get the mother's consent to adopt, then they have to wait a lot longer to even START the adoption, so as you can see there were a ton of hoops to jump through and they have been nervous and praying for it to all work out. I think the entire ward has been praying for this for a while! Well, no one in the tribe has wanted her, and last week the mother (who is in jail) signed the consent form which means the adoption can fully go forward! So by the end of this month, Taya will officially be a Foley! We couldn't be happier for them and just wanted to share the good news of Brighton's pal with everyone!

It's Official

A few weeks ago I took a workshop to get certified to teach pilates and last week I officially got hired to be a Pilates instructor for The Alaska Club! I'm super excited about it because I've wanted to do this for a while and things kinda fell into place. Getting paid to work out is always an incentive to go to the gym!

Finished Product

I've been working on this sweater for a few weeks now and I finally finished it! It's my first big knitting project and it seemed to be a success so I thought that I'd share it with all!

Sarah's Gift

We recieved a package today from my sister in Montana and inside was this super cute hat she made! Unfortunately it was a little small, but she looks cute and can wear it around the house when she's feeling funky! Thanks Sarah!

The Chompster

Grandpa got Brighton these biter bisquit cookies and she has loved them. Here's a few pics of her chomping down with G-pops! We have loved being here with my parents. I don't know what Brighton will do when she doesn't get all this attention on a daily basis!

Spring has not sprung

So I've been reading other people's blogs and I'm getting quite jealous that the weather seems to be warming up everywhere else but here! That brings me to my story. We live in Eagle River and there is a reason it's called Eagle River. There is one section of the town right by my old elementary school that is infested with bald eagles. They are there all the time and they sometimes fly down to the river that runs right by, thus being called Eagle River. Well, yesterday I was driving by this area and normally the eagles are high in the trees, but this time an eagle swooped low right past me and I almost hit it! It was carrying a giant salmon in it's claws and the fish seriously almost slid across the hood of my car! It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. The thing that made me a little disgruntled was that the fish was frozen! It had icicles on it! There is still 4 feet of snow in our frontyard! So you see, here in Alaska we are far from spring which makes me sad. So the next time you see a fresh blade of grass or a new flower popping up, sniff it for me!

Oh and P.S. I thought I'd share a fun pic of daddy and Lil' B. She was wearing a dress but Kyle tied it into a not in the back so she could crawl. She's definitely on the go at all times now!

Sabbath day drama

Well, there's really not that much drama, but a few things happened today. First, Brighton exploded out of her diaper at church and we had to rush home to get her cleaned up. While we were cleaning her, I noticed there was something on Kyle's shirt. He hadn't noticed it, but when he was holding Brighton, she exploded on him too! So that is what is on his white shirt in the picture. After that, we decided to go for a drive. On our way home, while pulling into the driveway, a moose was in our front yard! Kyle ran outside to take a pic when we got back inside, making sure he was far enough away. Well, he got a little closer to get a better pic, but the moose's ears went back and his hair went up (as a sign that he's about to charge). He started running after Kyle! It was a little scary, but Kyle was still far enough away that he could make it away safe. Anyway, it was a fun little day and I thought you all might like to hear about our Sunday adventures!

Delightful Dip

Whenever we go swimming, people think Brighton's a boy because she's just wearing her little swimmers diaper, so we decided that now was the best time to get her a swimsuit. Today was the inaugural dip and one of the few times Kyle was able to go swimming with us so it was a great photo op!

Furrowed Brows

In my education classes at school, we talked a lot about different ways you can get your point across to students with the least amount of effort. One important technique to do is what's called 'cuing'. You can cue someone by giving them the look. As an example, wives give their husbands cues all the time when they say something stupid or don't do the dishes or what have you. You all know what the look is and I must have rubbed off on little B because now she's cuing me! She must have seen me talking to Kyle or something! Well, she has perfected this cue and it is quite the scowl. When she's upset or not a fan of something, she will definitely let you know by giving you the look. You can't help but laugh when she flashes you this look. On occasion, you can get her to smile through her scowl, and that's when you know she's faking it, but for the most part, she can work you over with her eyebrows! Sorry the pics aren't at her peak scowl moments, but it's hard to get to a camera when you're laughing so hard. I'll post better ones when I get some!

What a peach!

Nothing too eventful today. We just hung out (well, Brighton hung on me! She acts like I'm her personal jungle gym!). I thought I'd show you all Brighton's sour puss face when we introduced peaches to her a while back. We took a video of it that was hilarious, but we haven't figured out how to post videos. Anyway, pucker up Brighton!!

Friends from the start

Brighton has had a best friend since her first month of life. Lillian is about 3 weeks younger than her and was born in Rexburg as well. Our friends Juliet and Ryan Belnap moved up to AK about a month after us and Brighton and their daughter Lily have been friends ever since! It's been fun to see them both develop at the same time and interact together. Thought you'd like the cute pics of them!

Aces Fever

So I've let everyone know that we're quite the Aces Hockey fans and we went to the game last weekend. Well, on Tuesday I subbed at an elementary school and 4 of the Aces came to the school to talk about staying healthy and reading! It was awesome to meet them in person! The kids I taught were pretty wild, but it was all worth it to see Later #7, Iberer #14, Metcalf #4 and MacMurphy #16! Anyway, just thought you'd like to know of my good fortune! And I thought I'd throw in a cute pic of Light Bright!

A True Alaskan weekend

So on Saturday we had fun at the Iditarod, but I failed to mention our awesome Friday. Since Kyle regularly gets free tickets to the Anchorage Aces Hockey game from work, we were able to go. But this was no ordinary game. First off, we got great seats (The second picture was taken from our seats). Next, the game was pretty intense and at one point right in front of us, one of the Bakersfield Condors checked one of our Aces so hard that, if you'll notice in the pic above, the plexiglass came out right in front of us! It almost fell on us but other fans caught it so we were safe! Can you believe it?! It was insane!! After that, as I was saying, the game was so intense that it went into DOUBLE overtime! And finally it came down a shootout. They were neck in neck....and they WON!! It was the most unbelieveable game! And my parents and Brighton were able to come as well which made it a fun time. It was Brighton's first game and she loved seeing the crowds! I think she'll definitely grow to be a hockey aficionado. If nothing else she'll always be an Aces fan through and through!

I did I did I did the Iditarod trail...

Well, give me a team and a good lead dog and a sled that's built so fine, and let me race those miles to Nome 1,049. And when I get back to my home hey I can tell my tail, I DID I DID I DID THE IDITAROD TRAIL!

Those were the words of a classic song all Alaskan elementary schoolers learn and love (me being one of them) when growing up in the AK. Today was definitely a fun day for the Comin fam because we were able to go see the ceremonial start of the Iditarod dogsled mushing race which is a huge thing here! It goes across the state, which if anyone has seen a map, is a looooong distance. First off is the Fur Rondy Festival which is a week before the actual start and the culmination of the festival is the race. The start of the race is in Anchorage and you can go cheer the mushers on at the start. These people are like local heroes so in the pics above are mushers Martin Buser who is a 4-time Iditarod champion and Dee dee Jonrowe who is a breast cancer survivor, ironman finisher, and long-time Iditarod musher (You can't see it very well, but all her dogs harnesses are pink and she's decked out in pink for breast cancer awareness). Anyway, it was a blast and the mushers are great. They even toss out doggie booties to the crowd! After that, we headed over to the snow sculpture competition and saw all the sculptures. We had Brighton stick her tongue out to lick one and it got stuck! Just kidding. But she did like the looking at all the snow and it was a fun way to finish off the festivities. Needless to say it was quite an Alaskan day!