Bear Paw Parade

So on Saturday we met our friends Juliet, Ryan, and Lillian Belnap to watch the Bear Paw Parade. The Bear Paw is a festival in Eagle River that everyone in town attends and there's activities through out the community during the week (Such as the slippery salmon run which an obstacle course you have to go through while carrying a dead salmon! It's weird up here in AK!). It's great fun and the parade is always an exciting event! This year's theme was "Pirates of the Bear-a-bean" which was pretty cheesy but fun to see everyone dressed like Capt. Jack Sparrow. Every year it seems like it pours on the day of the parade and Saturday was no different! Thankfully it stopped right before we got out of the the car so we didn't get too soaked. Lillie is Brighton's best friend here and they had a blast together pointing to the fire engines and clapping for the horses that went by. The funny thing is that the missionaries were in the parade too! They weren't attached to any float, but waved to all the bystanders. Random huh?! Well, I had to get a shot of that and thought it was pretty funny! We will definitely miss the good times and good friends we've had here but are super stoked that we'll be on a plane to sunny Utah in 3 weeks!

Special Day for the Foleys

Today was a special day for some friends of ours. A while back I told everyone about the story of the Foleys. Tehya was a foster child from birth to our friends Delmar and Jared Foley. Well a few weeks ago was Tehya's 1st birthday and all the papers went through last week for the adoption so they are an official family! We were invited to their sealing today and it was an awesome experience! They not only are official in the eyes of the government, but also in the eyes of the Lord! They are such a great family and Teyha is so lucky to be able to enjoy the blessings of being born in the covenant now that she is a full Foley! It was a tender experience that I'll never forget and I just thought I'd share the joy with all! Congrats to the Foleys!

Birdie Business

I have a little story to tell. Yesterday when Kyle, baby, and I started to go on our weekly bike ride, we noticed a bird was particularly close to us and it wasn't flying away. Kyle got so close that he grabbed a glove and picked it up! It would not move! We thought it must have a hurt wing or something because it was not doing anything. So we decided to freak my mom out and bring it in the house. Well we were nervous that it was going to go crazy and fly around but it didn't, although when we were taking the bird back out, it totally pooped all over Kyle! It was kinda funny! And when we took the bird back out, it flew away like nothing was wrong! It was weird. Brighton loved the whole experience! She wanted to get super close to it and touch it, but we didn't want her to get the bird flu! Haha! I was super mad that our camera battery was dead when this little event took place because we don't have any pics of it and I know that this pic has nothing to do with the story, but I always have to add one! Nothing too eventful is really going on with us other than the flight of the insane bird, although I do have a little news. If you haven't already noticed, I got invited to be on the Little Bird Design digital creative team! I am still a little nervous about being on the team but am loving everything I'm learning and doing so far! A big thanks goes to Beth Summers for introducing me to the creative team world! It's been great!

Tagged long ago!

In spirit of all the tagging that's been going on, we finally decided to actually follow through with a tag! It's been a long time coming, but we got tagged like a month ago by the Ottleys and finally sat down together to do it! (P.S. And do you love the picture of us?! It was 3 days before I had Brighton! Ugh!) So here it goes:

What was I doing 10 years ago:
D- Cheerleading on a little Pop Warner squad
K- Working at Taco John's

What was I doing 1 year ago:
D- Getting adjusted to motherhood
K- Managing the Alaska Club

5 snacks I enjoy:
D- Ice cream! Any flavor!
2. Quakes mini rice cakes
3. Popsicles
4. Nerds candy
5. Pepperoni (I love cold straight out of the fridge!)

K- Jamba juice
2. Burnt almond fudge ice cream
3. Frozen Snickers
4. Jello w/mandarin oranges in it and vanilla pudding on top
5. Red Swedish fish

5 songs I know I all the words to:
D- We didn't start the Fire- Billy Joel
2. Gangsta's Paradise- Coolio (Sad!)
3. Isn't She Lovely?- Stevie Wonder (Brighton loves it when I sing this song to her!)
4. Whenever, Wherever- Shakira
5. No woman, no cry- Bob Marley

K- We didn't start the Fire- Billy Joel (We are both obsessed with this song and embarrassingly enough we have a dance to it too!)
2. I would walk 500 miles-The Pretender
3. Mormon Rap
4. Come Thou Fount
5. Pachabel's Canon

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
D- Pay for Kyle's schooling!
2. Invest and save for Brighton and future kids' college fund
3. Go to Spain!
4. Buy a boat or horse (I still can't decide yet!)
5. Go crazy at Joann Fabrics

K- Pay off school debts
2. Invest for kids' college funds
3. Go to Hawaii
4. Buy in as partial-owner to a ski resort
5. Open my own outdoors store named Comin' to the Outdoors

5 things I like doing:
D- Hiking
2. Biking
3. Knitting
4. Pilates
5. Scrapbooking

K-Bouldering
2. Skiing
3. Kissing my wife
4. Playing with lil' B
5. Hanging out with my siblings

5 things I will never wear again:
D- Leggings with stirrups
2. My hair in a perm
3. Bright teal green eyeliner (I looked like a lady of the night!)
4. Enormously large sweaters that were way too baggy on me!
5. BRACES!

K- Brown, orange, and white polyester disco shirt
2. Pegged pants
3. Black dress shoes with white socks
4. Bleached hair (It looked yellow on me!)
5. Jock strap w/ cup (Soccer cured me of that!)

5 of my Bad Habits:
D- I'm a backseat driver
2. I get too stressed over minor things
3. I'm too open when it comes to bodily functions (Example: I fart and burp in front of people but think it's okay if I say excuse me)
4. I spend too much time on the computer
5. Since being in AK, I eat a lot of junk food! Yuck!

K- I leave my clothes lying around our room
2. I'm either too quiet or too loud
3. I'm too forward when first meeting strangers i.e. I hug people upon introduction
4. Food sometimes doesn't sit well with me
5. I'm a little too stubborn

5 of my Favorite Toys:
D- Our camera
2. My jogging stroller
3. All my Stampin Up stuff
4. My bike
5. Our computer

K- My skis
2. My mad rock boulder pad (Thanks Pat!)
3. My future bike
4. Brighton's bike carrier
5. All our camping gear

Now I'm tagging:
Kirsten and Aaron Henscheid
and
Lizanne and Stuart Rasmussen

Independence Day- Seward Style

For the 4th of July, we went down to Seward to partake of the festivities there! In Alaska, Seward is the place to be on the 4th. It's definitely a tourist town so we were able to walk around the shops and see some fun stuff. Also, on the 4th there's what is called the Mt. Marathon race. It's a 5k race up Mt. Marathon which is this super steep mountain and if you can imagine they race up it! It's outta control! They get filthy and pretty bloody running up it and practically rolling down it! Anyway, we saw the women's start and the picture of the lone racer above is actually Kikkan Randall who is a first-placed Olympic skier! She's an amazing athlete! It was cool to see her! And there was even a mini- marathon race for the little kids which I thought was so cute I had to get a pic! Also we were able to go down to the docks and look at all the boats. Brighton loved looking at all the water. Oh and did I mention we went camping? Well, for those of you who aren't the biggest of fans of camping, I don't blame you! Having a little tyke in the picture definitely changes the scenario quite a bit! Brighton thought it was a sleepover and she did NOT go to bed! She was loving her life and going crazy! It was probably the worst night sleep I've had since Brighton was born! Well, it was an eventful and tiring 2 days but we had a ton of fun and we made some lasting mems!

These tiny feet

I can't believe these feet are walking all over the place! I forgot to let everyone know that Brighton is running all over the place now. She started walking about a month ago, but wasn't too big on the idea so we didn't push it. Well, now she can't get enough of it! She looks like she just got off a horse when she walks which is hilarious! Anyway it has been a ton of fun watching her grow and I can't believe she's getting so big! She's become a toddler and I'm getting all weepy-eyed but it's still so fun to see her personality and attitude get crazier by the minute!

A few things I've been working on

HZA-TFAATS

We haven't really told anyone this yet, but we joined a competitive adult soccer league this summer as a way to get in shape. A friend from the ward said they really needed people and it didn't matter if we had never played before (which was basically Kyle and my skill level).Well it has been kind of more competitive which is more than we bargained for, but we're still enjoying it. The team (HZA-TFAATS is the name of the team after the architecture firm that sponsored us) didn't have a goalie so Kyle got recruited to do it which he has done well at. And I think I'm just running around the field not helping much, but I still have a blast doing it! Brighton and Jayden (a friend of the family) are definitely our cheerleaders as you can see! Oh and I'm #22 in the pic above! We thought you all would like to see some action shots of us! We only have a few more games and then off we go to Utah right after! Hooray!

P.S. Under construction

Okay so I'm trying to revamp the blog and I don't know if I like it yet. There will most likely be further changes so I'll keep you posted! Sorry for the interruptions!

Coastal Trail weekend

This weekend we biked the coastal trail. It is my favorite trail because if it's not already self-explanatory, it's right by the coast. It's in the heart of Anchorage but as you go further on the trail, it dips around the inlet and you can see downtown Anchorage from a distance (you can kinda see it in the background of the pic of Brighton and I). It was super nice out and Brighton loves the bike riding, so it was a blast of a day! Also, at the start of the trail is a playground and Brighton's newfound love in life is swinging! The picture definitely doesn't do justice to the excitement felt by Brighton, but at least you can see she is enjoying herself! Oh! Also there was a moose in our front yard and it never gets old to see a moose thst close so I thought I'd share that too! All-in-all it was a fun weekend and we were excited for the great weather!

Duck Pond Delight

So we are avid duck pond attenders in our family (In fact, Eagle River is known for it's duck pond)and with Sarah here we had to go see them once more! Brighton loves reaching out to pet them, but if they get too close or loud, she freaks out. Anyway, she loves going (as you can tell in the pic) and although you can't see the ducks, they were loving Brighton! What fun!

The Big Surprise

So I've been dying to post some pics of this past week but it's been hard because the big surprise is that we flew my sister in to town for my mom's 50th birthday/mother's day/father's day, etc... and we've had a great time thus far! My dad hadn't come home from the slope yet so we had to keep it hush hush. Well, we've done quite a bit lately and it's been a ton of fun! Last weekend we went horseback riding with my friend from high school who owns a bunch and the weather has been so nice lately that we've just been lounging around watching Brighton grow. It's been great having my sister here because we won't be able to see her for a while (she's going to Sweden for an exchange program and she won't be back for Christmas) so we have loved spending the time with her! Thanks for coming Sariah!

Popsicle to the Rescue

Anyone who knows me that well knows that I love love love popsicles. Well it was no surprise that when my dad gave Brighton one, she couldn't put it down! She definitely takes the sweet tooth after me! Although it took her the entire time to finally figure out that you hold the stick and not the actual cold part, she loved it and ate the whole thing! She even offered us some (which is her favorite thing to do now). Maybe it had to do with the fact that she just cut 3 new teeth through at once and it was soothing her, but she was loving her life (Which was a delightful change from the beastly week she gave us prior to the teeth eruption!)! What are we going to do with such a crazy little baby like this?!

Sunday Sisters

Just thought I'd share a Sunday pic of us girls! Gotta love Brighton's dazed looking face!

Plum Happy

So Brighton is the biggest sneak and has abnormally long arms! When Kyle and I had our backs turned for two minutes while making dinner, Brighton reached for a plum that we thought was unreachable and out of sight. This was the result in a matter of minutes! I know it looks kinda bad because she looks all bloody, but no need to fret. No babies were injured in the making of this footage. If you're wondering what wierd conglomoration is on her head in the pic above, it is the plum skin. She found them to be a little too tart so she threw it over her head and it ended up on top of it instead! What a wild child we have! She was loving all the attention she was receiving from her escapades and although it doesn't appear that way, she ate the entire plum! She getting crazily curious and fun! This age is great!

A great visitor

Well, this weekend has been very eventful but I'll spare some of the details for a later post. One great thing that happened this weekend was that one of my best friends in the whole world was in town and came to visit! Her name is Megan Harrell and she is actually one of my friends that got me into the church. She was such a great influence to me growing up and it was so good to see her smiling face again! She lives in Logan, UT and works for the state police as an investigations secretary and leads an exciting life there. We don't get to see her much and miss hanging out with her all the time but it was a great visit and we love playing! Brighton ecspecially enjoyed the time spent with Aunt Meg! Well, thanks for a great time Meg!

Congrats to Lizanne & Stuart!

Well, my roommate and great friend Lizanne had her very first baby last week and I just wanted to show everyone how cute their little baby is! Her name is Kirsten Elise Rasmussen (Kirsten after our other roommate and friend/Lizanne's sister-in-law). Lizanne had a c-section but she's recovering well and mom, dad, and baby are doing good! Way to go Lizanne and Stuart! She's super cute!

End of School....Finally!

So I'm back tracking some more and filling you all in on the happenings of our day to day life. Last week Brighton and I were invited to Mrs. Lampert's kindergarten class at Fire Lake Elementary to have a pizza party for the last day of school. I have subbed for her quite a bit this year (she is in our ward) and her kids called me teacher #2. They were so fun and they loved seeing Brighton! Well it was a fun way to end the school year. And Brighton even got a visitor pass which she was fascinated by!

A nice little weekend surprise

I'm sorry I haven't updated so well lately! Here's a little backtrack for you all. Well, this past weekend we got a knock on our door at about 11:15 at night and lo and behold, it was my great friend Evelyn! We like to call her the nomad. At one point she lived with us for a little while and she tends float from one house to another, but we love it! She also is a night owl which sometimes isn't that hard to be when you live in Alaska and it's light all the time! Well, we ended up talking until 3 in the morning and she stayed the night. It was just like old times! I have really missed her (She is living in Fairbanks right now working at an awesome engineering firm) and was so ecstatic to see her and hang out! Thanks for visiting while you were in town Eve!

Sunkissed Suzie Q

Sorry it's been a little while for any updates! There hasn't been a whole lot of activity in the Comin household. But I just wanted to post the pics of Brighton last weekend and her first little sunburned cheeks! I thought pics were super cute so I had to share! Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day weekend!