How to make a Minion

We knew before Karrick was even born that we wanted him to be a minion for his first halloween.  (Not that we are the big halloween celebration types...but we just couldn't help it!)

I found a free hat pattern online somewhere (thank you world wide internets!) and enlisted my sister, Wendi, to ask a lady who works at her school if she would take on the task of making it.  (This coworker crochets stuffed animals...(!)  So I figured she could quickly and easily figure out a hat pattern...)  And she did!

She even crocheted the button.  I didn't even know you could crochet buttons...

Karrick tried it on when Wendi gave us the hat in Utah.

And then I found some overalls at Target.  That doesn't even really matter since clearance prices at Target in Alaska are like regularly priced items at Target in the lower 48...but that's a whole other blog post that I probably won't ever have time to write...

I couldn't find a yellow onesie.  So I dyed a white onesie yellow.  But I got the water too hot, so it was almost orange.  And that didn't go with the hat.  (Seriously.  It looked bad.)  So I soaked it in cold water and bleach...twice.  And the second time I fell asleep and left it in the water for longer than I intended.  However, it turned out perfectly.  (Yay!  Naps really do fix everything!)

For the last part, I looked on etsy for a "G" patch ("G" is for Gru), and the internets came through for me again!

And here is our little minion:

Oh....and the very last part of the costume was the black socks (because baby shoes are ridiculous...cute but ridiculous...) and we borrowed those from our neighbor James--the little monkey pictured below:

Autumn Walk-a-bout

Karrick and I went on a walk to enjoy the beautiful fall colors and take some pictures of our neighborhood.

Last fall was so short.  It makes us really appreciate every day that we still have leaves and color on the trees!  And who knows how much longer it will last??

First here is a picture of the local Wal-Mart.  As I was walking in the other day I thought "geez.. Alaska even makes Wal-Mart look good!"

Ok.  Now the ones from our walk today.

Fireweed turns bright red in the fall which explains the name... 

Yay for fall!

Welcome to Eagle Crossing!

Our church house along Driftwood Bay.  It's nice to live so close to the church.

Hiland mountain.  Or is it Highland.  I'm too lazy to look at my map...

Mile high peak and mile high saddle.  We went hiking there (the saddle) a few weeks ago.  Now you can see it from the road I live on.

Our neighbor's tree is quite stunning.  She was out by the mailbox so I told her how much I liked her tree.  She said she didn't know what kind it was.  It just came with the house.

Blueberry bushes!  In our neighborhood!  Next year I'm totally picking them...No one else did, and now the berries are mushy and gross.

Instagram Photo Contest

Today I found out about a Instagram photo contest through myalaskaforests.com.

So I submitted a photo for fun.

It's of Winner Creek Gorge in Chugach National Forest.  (The contest is for instagram pictures from Chugach National Forest and Tongass National Forest.)

The pictures with the most "likes" win...so if you have the instagram app VOTE FOR ME!

C'mon...It will be fun :)

Summer, Alaska Style

We've had rain. (And fresh snow in the mountains!)

The flower garden is thriving. (Members of the columbine family maybe??  I didn't plant them...they came with the house...)

And there's a whole lot of daylight when it's supposed to be bedtime.

That's how summer is done "up North".

I Was Made for Sunny Days

My dad had business and meetings to attend to today, so Wendi, my mom, and I went exploring.

I took them to see the Eagle River Nature Center (where I will probably take every visitor who comes to visit us-just FYI).  We did a short hike on the Rodak trail.  (It was a beautiful sunny day.  The last two days have been cloudy and rainy, so today the first day they could actually see the mountains!)

Here are some pictures from our adventure.

The view from the Nature Center

The names of the mountains in the view

Wendi and my mom

Bluebells 

Polar Bear Peak and Eagle Peak from the bear viewing deck

We saw a moose!

The official name of the "spiky sticks of death"...it's such a fitting name!

Yay for visitors in Alaska!!! And yay for hiking and beautiful sunny days!

Here are some fun instagram pics that I took:

And the title of this post is because of this song:

The picture I forgot to post

So, in all my excitement about my garage sale treasure, I forgot to post one of the pictures.

Here is a picture of the base of the sewing desk.  (The other side is the same as this...)

And since taking this picture I cleaned it up...there was a lot of dust on there!

Lately

The trees beside our house during the last snow storm (last saturday...the record breaking day...)

Luke and I went exploring and found "a whole new world".  A hidden neighborhood in the mountains across the river and this trailhead to an area that we will be exploring sometime.

We live in such a cool place!  So close to such beautiful places!

Cadbury cupcakes made by our neighbor Lezlie.  She made them for the big Easter dinner we had at our other neighbor's house.

Fred Meyer in Eagle River sells POG!  Last time I had this, I was in Hawaii.  I bought some for Luke to try (he had never heard of it) and he loves it!  (It reminds him of juice from the Dominican Republic.)

As of Late...

Luke and I Skype every day.  (We are grateful for such wonderful technology!)

Found a huge moose at Costco!  (The kind of moose that isn't mean and ornery!)

This sign in Heber City Utah is awesome!

Played Qwirkle cubes with my mom.  She beat me by 2 whole points...  (ARGH!!!!)

Fed apples to my favorite horses...Gypsy and Snoopy.

Ate at Chic-fil-a...mmmmm....delicious!

Went to the Friday night session of Time Out for Women in Layton, Utah with my mom, sister Wendi, sis-in-laws Kara and Cassie, and friend Laura.

All the bathrooms here were converted to women's bathrooms...since its a women's event and all...  

Wherefore art thou Wendi?

Enroute to Salt Lake...so says the sign. Gotta love the park and wait.

It's a good excuse to take instagram pictures!

Just waiting on Southwest flight 168...from Denver (and Dallas/Love Field and Tulsa...talk about a busy plane!)

Destination: Utah

Trip log:  (yes, I'm bored.  I haven't turned on the Disney channel yet...so I must not be that bored...)

Anchorage to Seattle:

I slept on the plane cuddled up with my fuzzy blanket and the window.  It was glorious!  Of course the lady that sat right in front of me brought her dog in a doggie duffle bag.  I expected the worst, but it didn't actually make that much noise.  However, the noises it did make were...strange...

It was raining in Seattle when we landed.  That's no surprise.  But when everyone was getting off the plane, the radio came on.  Guess what the song was.  You'll never guess.  Ok, I'll tell you.  It was the song by Creedence Clearwater Revival called "Who'll stop the rain."

I laughed inside.  And once I reached the Sea-Tac island where the S gates are located (via a lot of walking and a short train ride), I texted Luke to tell him about it.  :)

While I ate yogurt with granola in it, I started thinking about the cool Instagram photos everyone takes and posts to their blogs.  I used to have that app on my phone, but I could never figure it out.  Well I had about 15 min to kill, so I re-installed it and tried using it again.  Turns out it was easier this time, or maybe this time I had a firmer resolve to have cool photos to post to my blog...  (Yes, I'm pretty sure it was the latter...)

Ta-da!

My connecting flight to Salt Lake City, Utah

I also redid some photos on previous blogs.  I'll give you a prize if you find them...

Seattle to Salt Lake City:

I slept again on the plane cuddled up with my fuzzy blanket and the window.  This time I was on the other side of the plane, which my neck appreciated...very much.  It was harder to wake up this time.  I didn't even feel the plane landing.  Bravo skilled pilot!

My dad picked me up from the airport in my old car.  And it's warm here!  (38 degrees is not cold.)

This is cold.  (Yes, more Instagram photos...get used to 'em!)

Eagle River, Alaska

No. I take that back...This is what's cold!

Hang in there Luke!  Think warm thoughts!!!

P.S.  Utah.  What's up with the hardly-any-snow-thing you've got going on??