Early Morning Blog

Well, it's 4:45 AM here in Ketchikan, wind howling and rain pounding against the house. Haven't been able to sleep since 2:30, so thought I'd update our blog. Has it really been 5 months since we've updated? I wish someone would've told me!!! (Actually, many people have given slight hints regarding our time between blogs). Well, here we are again. Be thankful I couldn't sleep, (due to pregnancy, of course), otherwise this prime opportunity in the middle of the night probably wouldn't have happened.

Just a few highlights over the past few months. Adam's been working hard on all kinds of construction jobs, as well as different projects at home. He built me a wonderful office detached from the house which gives a little extra room, and also enables us to have a small nursery for the baby when he comes. He's also been on lots of "Daddy duty" while I've worked at Alaska Airlines. It's actually worked out very well, as I have mainly worked nights. And when Adam was busy, Uncle Ashley would usually step in, like a good uncle should. He's been staying with us for a few months helping Adam before heading back to school. It's been great having him and Rachael sure has fun playing with and teasing him. My last day was Friday and I am officially on maternity leave. Now all I do is clean, clean, clean while I wait patiently, (and at times not so patiently), for this baby to be born.

As for me, I have all the wonderful symptoms of being 9 months pregnant. Rather uncomfortable, I look forward to meeting this new little person. I just realized our due date is tomorrow. Maybe he's just very punctual and is waiting for that anticipated date. We'll see. I do hope he's not a procrastinator as he is getting larger every day!!!

Rachael adds excitement to our lives daily. She's 18 months old and learning new things every day. It's so much fun to watch! She's become very interested in anything "baby", (which I'm thankful for), and loves helping Mommy get everything ready for her new little brother. I can't wait to see them together. She also loves spending time with her friend Hannah. Just last night they had a play date so Adam and I could go on a date...to the grocery store. Isn't that romantic?? We actually did get a bite to eat first, but it's amazing how those precious times alone together are just that, precious. Even if it's only to the store, we have to take advantage of them when the opportunity arises.

Well, enough blabbing, here are a few pictures from the last few months. Hope you enjoy!

Fishing this summer:

Eating rocks can be yummy!

Fun at the Anchorage Zoo:

Story time with Auntie Kristi and roasting smores on the beach:

Fun at the John's house:

Quality Uncle time:

Big Momma's!!!!

Work, Work, and of course, Play!!!!

As many of you know, I recently began a new job at Alaska Airlines. After 5 full weeks of training, (3 of which were in Seattle), I proudly accepted the title, CSA - Customer Service Agent. Granted, it was a lot of work, and still is, but thankfully, we had the help of family and friends who graciously cared for our precious little one. I think she handled the change better than the rest of us!

But a lot sure has happened since the beginning of summer. Rachael turned 1 early in June, we took a trip south where she spent some time with Adam's side of the family, my wonderful mother-in-law decided to stay 3 weeks here in Ketchikan while I finished my training, and about two weeks ago Rachael started walking!!! Now, she's REALLY into everything! We still are adjusting to having both of us work, but so far, it's going great. And hopefully things will slow down a bit this fall. But until then, it's work, work, work, (and as you can see from the following pictures), Rachael is doing all the playing.

Happy Birthday, Rachael!!!!

These are my new friends I made at Nana and Papa's house in Spokane. This is Bud.

And this is Tina.This is what happens when Mommy's at work. I get to take a bath in the kitchen sink...with Gracie, too!!! Just out for a stroll.This is also what happens when Mommy is too busy rolling out pie crust and isn't watching me very closely. :)

A Day At The Park

It's been beautiful here the past few days and we've really been taking advantage of it. Just the other day we took Rachael to the playground. It was her second time and I wanted her dad to see how much she loves the swings. Really, who doesn't love the swings? They had so much fun together, and I loved snapping pictures of all the many kodak moments.

Even Daddy decided to have a little fun!

Remember the days when all you needed was a dandelion to entertain you?

Overall, it was a wonderful day at the park. Unfortunately, we are now trying to recover from whatever new bug is going around town. And the Cooke children are so good at sharing, they decided to share their pink eye with Rachael. But it's alright, we share everything with the Cookes, even our diseases. :)

Catch-Up Time

Always a lot happening around here. Sometimes it's hard to find time to share the news with everyone. But here's a quick synopsis. Adam recently did some herring fishing, thanks to the help of Jeremy Baum, to stock-up on bait. He was very proud of his success. Maybe now he can catch that big halibut we've been waiting for.

My Mom and Rachael and I took a short trip to Petersburg last week and had a great time. We were visiting my Aunt and Uncle and some other family that we haven't seen in a while. The weather was beautiful and it was very relaxing. Rachael did great and just stole the show most of the time.

She also had her first taste of salmon...this salmon.

And she loved hanging out with her "great" Great-Uncle.

And Mom thought the ice floating down the channel was pretty cool.

Oh, and one more thing. For those of you who don't know yet...

Rachael's going to be a big sister in December!!!!!!!!

Busy Sunday

Sunday, the day of rest, can sometimes be the busiest day of the week, at least yesterday was. We didn't stop until bedtime. Adam has been leading worship, (and doing a great job), on Sunday mornings, and Pastor Mike asked if he would speak at the jail also. We used to go in regularly, but after Rachael was born, it became too difficult. He spoke about "power", something the Lord layed on his heart a couple days before. I wasn't there, but the others that were said he did great. We then went to the hospital to see the new baby in our family. Adrian's wife, Sarah, had a beautiful baby girl, Aden. It's always fun seeing a new baby, and she sure is lovely. After we got home, we had just a little while before our FOLD group meeting at 6:00. Adam led the music and also spoke again. Come to think of it, I think he was the one with the busy day! Anyway, he did just great, and we're proud of him.

Waiting to go to church in my best Sunday dress.
Here's a picture of the new baby!

I want to get my picture taken too!!
Hello, what's your name?

What's going on?

Adam just got back from his fishing trip down south with his Dad and 2 brothers and 16 other guys. He said it was pretty crowded in the cabin and he had an "OK" time. He said he missed us lots and he likes us there when he goes on trips. Anyway, he got right to work on the logs outside. Our property used to be mostly covered in trees. Now it looks like this.

With one tree left standing, he'll have to cut it down eventually, but he's used to it. He cuts down trees like this.Dale Baccula came over with his portable saw mill and he and Adam spent the last couple days milling and sawing all the logs.

And now, all those logs...

look like this.


Inside the house, we're having lots of fun just looking cute. Who else thinks she looks like Bam-Bam?

New news!

For those of you out there who are still hopeful of something new to appear on our blog, the anticipation is over! After over a year of avoidance, I have finally learned how to blog. And it's not that hard; (why didn't anybody ever tell me?) And I have exciting news to share on this first post...we had a baby!!!! I think the anticipation was worth it, don't you? Our beautiful daughter Rachael Grace was born on June 6, 2007 and was 8 lbs 7 oz and 21 inches long. She has been such a joy! But my how she has changed since that day. This is a recent picture of her. She loves smiling for the camera and never fails to show off her pearly-whites, (she has 6 now) when she sees the blinking light.

Life sure has changed since "The Crack". New baby, new house, and new guitar. Hopefully this will be the last; of the guitars, I mean. I've been keeping busy at home and Adam has been very busy at work. Right now, he's actually on a fishing trip with his Dad and two brothers, but other than that, he's very busy. He's also been leading worship at church which has been really great to see. He's doing wonderfully and getting better every week.

Well, I can't believe I'm up this late, but I wanted to finally update our blog. This is really fun and I can't wait to do it again next year. Just kidding, I hope to keep this more up-to-date. Thank you to all our faithful viewers who did not give up on "These Happy Day's".