The Year in Review

What a difference a year makes! This time last year we were frantically packing everything into either storage or suitcases and preparing to move to Alaska. Our apartment was flooding and our boxes were ruined. The stench of re-mildewing carpet was unbearable. We hopped on a plane (dragging our 200 lbs of luggage + carryons) and flew to Seattle. On our overnight layover we got to see Greg, Kandice and Zachary. We woke up around 4 am to catch our super early flight and, of course, the security line was ridiculous and we nearly missed our flight. Then to Anchorage where we scrambled to find our luggage, drag it across the airport and recheck it to switch airlines, board the plane, takeoff, wait until it's over the frozen ocean and then annouce mechanical problems and have to return to the airport (we had completed half of the 30 minute flight). I was scared out of my mind because 1. the plane was tiny and 2. a very similar plane had plunged into the icy water the week before under very similar circumstances. Then we waited in the airport all day, very hungry (we though $4 for a bagel was overpriced), until they finally let us back onto a plane- which was even smaller than the first.

Only when we arrived in Kenai did it finally hit me that we weren't in Kansas, or even the continental United States, anymore. The entire place looked like it had never been unfrozen, it was bitter cold and it was dawn/dusk at 3 p.m. We were then taken to our apartment, which made me rather nervous as we walking up the stairway and were hit with the smell of marijuana. That and the apartment was fully decorated and the fridge was full (think previous intern was too lazy to do anything about it). We spent the next few months unpacking, meeting people and trying to adjust to having very little sunlight. Oh yeah, and we had to plug in our car and brave -30 weather (that was the high for the day). Ben got to work a (mostly) fun job where he got to stitch people up and draw blood, and follow a doctor around all day. The hardest part for me was that Ben was gone so much (working between 50 and 60 hours a week).

We met some cool people while we were in Alaska. I found a part time job working at the Challenger Space Center. We found out we were pregnant. And then I spent the better part of most days asleep, or trying to be asleep, in our dark apartment, trying to stave off nauseousness. We went clamming, saw many a moose, went on a whale cruise and got to enjoy the longest day of sunlight we will ever see. I watched my belly grow and grow and grow. Ben got to do the first ultrasound of our little girl, who we were then told was a little boy, and then a girl again.

After six months of the great Alaskan frontier, we repacked (in only 100 lbs because the airlines changed their baggage rules) and mailed tons of stuff home. Then the 6-month pregnant lady and her poor exhausted husband returned to the real United States, and continued to travel around by boat, plane and car for the next 3 weeks. Oregon, Washington, Utah, Idaho. We had fun at Twin Lakes, even with power and without Kortney wakeboarding. We got to meet our nephew for the first time and go to his blessing. Then back to Idaho.

We moved into our nicest apartment ever. Ben got a job digging ditches. My blood pressure was high and the doctor recommended I stop traveling. I started having contractions early and got put on medication that made me dizzy and gave me headaches, and I became a grouchy person. Ben went back to school. I got pregnanter and pregnanter and more uncomfortable. I was patient enough to not perform a C-section on myself. Mom finally showed up and we induced, to put me out of my misery (said my doctor). By the time the day arrived, I was already in labor, so we just sped it up. 7 hours later we met the most beautiful girl in the world and she melted our hearts.

The next several weeks all blurred together- diapers, crying, feeding, sleeping (no matter what anyone tried to tell me, I got more sleep after the baby was born than before). Trying to figure out what the word "Mom" really means. I learned my husband is the best dad ever, which wasn't that surprising, because he's the best husband ever. My mom helped a lot. Then everyone came for her blessing and she got to meet her grandparents, aunts and uncles. We got an entire week off for Thanksgiving and headed to Oregon. 12 hours in a car is twice as long when you have a baby. Ben had finals. We packed all of our stuff into storage, our car and the roof bag. It only took us 2 days longer than we had planned on. Our first cross country trek with baby, in the snow. We got a nasty cold.

Kennady's first smile, her first Christmas, her first giggle. She got to meet the rest of her family. We enjoyed a balmy 70 degree day in the middle of December and Ben finally understood why I wanted to move to Missouri. Now we are moving into the basement, setting ourselves up comfortably and trying to get used to the fact that we live here, well for 4 months. We are looking forward to 2009 and everything that comes with it.

Now you all know you can just wait until December next year, read the year in review post, and be totally caught up.