Easter/One year photoshoot

Luckily for Molly her Aunt Kaitlin is an amazing photographer and she happened to be here for Easter so we got some photos of Molly taken. For the parents/grandparents in our life please don't feel like you need to get them off the blog - they are coming for your upcoming holidays in May and June.
Our impromptu session before Easter lunch.
Molly doing a McPherson pose - when the arms go up that means they are tired. Her grandaddy and dad both do this.

We climbed to the star!

We joined our hiking buddies for yet another fun adventure this weekend. William (who is 3) told Valerie last year he wanted to hike to the star overlooking Anchorage so yesterday we put on our hiking boots and went to the star. I called up our friend Tina to see if any of her kids wanted to go with us and we did an even trade - Molly for Olivia. Molly got to stay inside and play and Olivia got the adventure of a lifetime. The hike up was actually pretty nice - I thought the snow was deep and annoying while hiking up but that was before our final descent to the star then I knew what deep snow was. It was a 3.5 mile hike and with Jon's handy dandy Garmin watch I can tell you our pace, how many feet up we climbed, his heart rate and any other detail you could imagine but instead I will just show you pictures!

Early on - here is when I thought the snow was a little deep and annoying b/c my whole foot sunk each time.
Group shot! Vince, Jon, Olivia, Ashley, William and Valerie - Titan is once again running around somewhere so he can hike it 3-4 times when we are done.
Right before the final ascent.
The last push to the star - uncharted walking. We are glad we did not cause an avalanche.
That is right - my entire leg sunk. Too bad it happened at least 80 more times and I started crawling on my hands and knees.
WE MADE IT!!
The best part - sledding straight down the mountain and not hiking the regular trail.

Mid April and this is what the mountains around us look like. I don't know what will be the reward for hiking once the snow melts.

We climbed Bear Mountain

*there are 2 posts today - scroll past this one to see Jon's birthday post.
We climbed Bear Mountain. Our friends the Myers live on a lake at the bottom of Bear Mountain and it was decided at Jon's birthday that it would be fun to hike it on Sunday. So at 2pm on Sunday we started the trek up the mountain. They tell us it is a 2 mile hike up the mountain. About 1.5 miles into the hike I was having some questionable thoughts about our sanity and my ability to finish but I DID the first .5 miles down Jon was questioning his ability to get down the mountain without hurting himself or Molly but HE DID. Our group of 4 girls, 2 guys, 2 dogs, 1 preschooler and 1 toddler made the trek in close to 3 hours with no major injuries.

Molly getting ready with a big breakfast - after eating her meal she came and let Jon share his breakfast with her.
Getting ready to start the hike. William and Molly got free rides up the mountain.
WE MADE IT
Ashley, Jon, Molly, Ashley, Valerie, William, Rachel and Duke - Moose was taking the picture and Titan was probably running around. The hike was hard for the humans but the dogs must have climbed the mountain 3 times each with the amount of running around they did.
We were viewing the Myers house at this point - if it wasn't so foggy there is supposed to be an amazing view.

On the way down instead of walking we sat on our butts and slid most of the way (on purpose) and I must have hit a rock or two and torn my pants. Didn't realize this until we were in the flatter spots and having to walk again - luckily I had on long johns underneath.
Molly and I post hike - some amazing hat head going on here. We are so thankful for adventurous friends who let us join them. I don't think Jon and I would have thought to do this on our own!

Jon's Birthday

This week we celebrated Jon's birthday by going on a family hike and then having a party on Saturday. Here are some pictures of the fun Thunderbird falls Hike and the Mexican food /game night!

Our friend William earned a reward and brought his new racetrack to the party. I don't know who had more fun- the "big boys" or him?
Our snowball fight. It might not have snowed for a week or two but we have had snow in our yards since November so there is always plenty around for a fight or two.
Molly watching the fight from the safety zone - after one near miss we moved her close to the house since she doesn't understand DUCK yet.
Moose and Ashley - coming up with our strategy.

Jon talking to his mom on our hike - Molly is trying to get over to say HI grandmommy but she wasn't allowed off the bench. We were also geocaching which is why he is on the wrong side of the railing.
Molly enjoying the view of the falls and the beautiful weather out. It was a blistery 44 out that day and it really did get hot in the sunny areas.

McP/Roten Visit

This past week we had the McPherson's and Roten's in town and we took them on some fun adventures. We ate, hiked, ate, drove, ate, went sight seeing and ate some more! Molly got some great time with her grandparents and aunt and uncle - with only 1 small one around she was pretty spoiled. Jon and I started the week out with a marriage conference and his parents watched Molly then we picked up the Rotens and hit the ground running. The last few days we just chilled around the house and played games. It was a great visit!!

Geo caching on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail way with Kaitlin and Thomas

On our hike around the lake we found a random set of bowling pins and ball - so we bowled a few rounds on the mostly frozen lake. Ashley thought it would be a fun adventure to walk from one side of the lake to the other - we found that the warmer days had caused a few spots of the lake to be not as frozen as it used to be.
Strike!! OK more like a split but there were no bumpers.
Thomas setting up for the next person
Thomas and Kaitlin in Talkeenta - we had a view of Denali as the clouds moved.
Molly enjoying the view from Grandmommy's shoulders.
I was a little slack on the camera since Grandaddy had his camera and so did Aunt Kaitlin so we will just have to get a few pictures from them.
Molly and her most favorite person in the world - DADDY! After being gone for a year Molly can not stand her dad to be gone for even a few minutes of her life and she lets it be known each morning as he leaves for work. The video below is what those first 5 minutes are like until I can get her distracted. Then it is out of sight out of mind and she doesn't worry about Jon again until he comes home and she races towards the door as he takes off his boots.

100 caches

Sunday March 21 at 16:20 we found our 100th cache on a hike in Eagle River, AK.Molly and Jon in front of our 100th find!

During our geocaching days we have run into some pretty fun things and this weekend was no exception.
Bullwinkle the moose
and a pot-bellied pig. It was funny to watch the dogs around the pig, at one point there were 6 all smelling it. I know they were thinking bacon!
Why in the world someone would bring a pot-bellied pig to a dog park I will never know. I guess it is because there are no pig parks.
While Jon and I walked back from our 100th find we reminisced about are finds over the years.
Jon's favorite - During a layover in the Atlanta airport we rushed outside of security and found a cache that was one of the coolest pieces of art. We then rushed back to security and got on our flight with a few minutes to spare - this was pre-Molly so we traveled extremely light.
Ashley' favorite - Probably one of our first caches around Baylor at the Harrington house - it was a nano hidden on a pole and it took us forever to find!!

Jon's least favorite - All the ones we have never found. We have probably searched for 200 but we have only found 103.
Ashley's least favorite - We were with the Sealey's on a multi-cache and Lisa and I both got a BAD case of chiggers. We were both on prescription medicine by the end of the week because of that adventure. Why my least favorite : 1. Lisa was none to happy to be drug around in random places and then end up itchy, 2. we didn't find the stupid cache 3. Neither guy got a single bite!! (never did Aniyah who was a few months old at the time but I was glad for her) 4. I was put on steroids for my chiggers.

Molly's thought on geocaching: Mostly we get the look like seriously again why am I with these crazy people as we put her into the carrier and start our hikes.

Our Fun Weekend

We are getting ready for St. Patrick's Day here. Molly has been wearing all her shamrocks and we have partying all weekend long. While sledding Jon sprained his MCL so he is on crutches for a few days.
Molly and Jon relaxing on the ground - notice the crutches in the background!
Molly sporting her shamrocks - she was happy until I took her pen away and I got this face.
Molly getting ready to do some repair work around the house.
Jon and I went geocaching - it was freezing!!! The wind was crazy and it was in the single digits. I was in my waiters because we were walking on mud flats and the ground gave out on us a few times. This was before the sledding injury.
Since Jon came home I have attempted to cook something at least once daily. Saturday's meal - DONUTS!! We had homemade toppings- vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar
The final product. Molly got the donut holes while Jon and I got the donuts. Notice the amazing plating - I have been watching the food network and learning a few things - I know they would be pleased with star wars and veggie tales plates!!