Dip Net Fishing

One of our favorite things we did in Alaska was fish for Salmon. We of course didn't do the fishing, we were just the cheerleaders on shore. However it was so much fun!

To do the fishing or dip netting we headed to the Kenai Peninsula. While Dave's brother and his kids camped on the beach (It was like tent city down there), we slept in the back of Brian's truck. It was surprisingly nice.
It was probably 60 degrees at the warmest. It was weird getting the kids in layers to go to the beach. Adona enjoyed playing in the sand, I enjoyed sitting by the fire or down at the water cheering.

Dip netting is just what its called. Everyone has these long or short handled nets. (It made me think of giant butterfly nets.) Then they stand in the water in a long line just in the water up to the waist. (Check the pictures and see how many people were there.) Then a fish will swim into their net and they quickly turn their net to make sure that the fish is stuck in the net. Then they would drag the net and fish onto the beach, get it out of their net and either they would kill it or someone on shore. Then they would hurry back in to catch another. Sometimes fish would hit their net as they push it back into the water.

Check out all the fish Brian caught! Then he got them cleaned up, cut, and we packaged them. Thank you!!! That was so fun to see!

Alaskian Vacation Part 1

We decided it would be nice to get away from the heat and go to Alaska for a little while. Dave's brother lives there and we had only visited them once before in the winter. We decided to make it a long one this time, since it would be the summer, I agreed.

Day 1- We hiked Flat Top mountain for our first hike. It was beautiful. A little scary on top with the kids, but we made it and they did a great job. Giana and Adona are so different. Giana was crying because she wanted to walk and Adona was crying because she didn't want to climb on the rocks anymore. (It didn't help that it was nap time.) After the 3.5 hike we went to the chocolate factory to get all of us a truffle as a reward and see the chocolate fountain. As you see below Adona loves her chocolate. (She is eating hers in all 3 pictures on the left.)

Day 2: Saturday farmer's market. We enjoyed the food and some of the entertainment there. The produce was WAY to expensive! We did pick up a bottle of Salmonberry Vinaigrette and Adona got to make herself a cupcake.

Day 3: Sunday
Day 4: Monday We headed to the local Zoo. We really enjoyed seeing the animals, but most were hiding out. After the zoo we headed for lunch.

Recently Dave and a Coworker were talking food and his coworker told him about Yelp.com. We decided that we would start looking on there to find a few places to eat on our trips. We have not been disappointed! We found this crepe place in Alaska. This was our dessert crepe, all were wonderful I just want to eat one now!!

Month of Birthdays

June is our family's month for birthdays. Besides being 3 of us in our own little family both sides of our family have birthdays too, we have a brother and both of our Fathers are in June. It was a busy month! We made lots of cake! Luckily Dave was really into making this yummy healthy cake, so we didn't gain too much weight in the end. (I don't think any actually!)


Here is the first birthday family dinner. We decided to combined Dave's and Giana's because 6 days apart wasn't enough time to do it separate. (Sorry G, get use to it.) We had dinner with most of the Dave's family. Dave made what I call Crispy Apple Cake (recipe will soon be on my friend's blog, I'll let you know when) and cinnamon custard. It was so fun and we really liked the cake. Giana's was actually different though. She got a blend of a mango upside down cake with something else. I can't remember. With a yogurt frosting. The next day I had some and I actually like it more the my favorite Crispy Apple Cake, no wonder she ate it so well.

For Giana's actually birthday we let her and Adona help make her another cake to eat on her birthday. It was enjoyed by all! I just love seeing my kids helping in the kitchen!


Nine Days later came Adona's birthday, on Father's day this year. Sorry Dad and grandpa, it's all about Adona today...

The only thing Adona said she wanted for her birthday was M&Ms. (We train her well, that's usually one of the things I get for my birthday.) She fell asleep before dinner, so when grandma and grandpa go there with her M&Ms she was asleep. We put them in her face as you can see in the pictures and woke her up. She was so excited! Another thing Adona wanted was a little mermaid cake. I did the best I could, maybe it didn't look beautiful, but it tasted amazing! (Chocolate Whole Wheat Tres Laches)

Of course we didn't only get her M&Ms, although she would have been happy with just that and the candles to blow out.
I have been wanting to get her a bike. Good old DI had this beauty for $5! Can't beat it, it would have been the one she would have chosen at the store anyways! (Princesses) Grandma and Grandpa also got her some church books and a family cookbook. It was a great birthday for Adona.

End of a Busy Week

The room!!!

The walls:

Adona loves bubbles and she really wanted a bubble room. This was so fun and easy to do! And it turned our better then I thought! The bubbles are fabric that I cut out and pasted onto the wall with a cornstarch and water mixture. I can just pull them off and wipe the wall down when we want a change.

The dresser: (This was also surprisingly easy! I was so happy with the results!)

The knobs: I had a very hard time finding knobs that worked, so instead I just spray painted the old ones. Much better to spend $3 then $20! Super happy about how they turned out and I figure I can repaint them anytime!

The inside of the drawers: I pulled out the old contact paper and pasted in colorful tissue paper. They are not perfect, but I still love that you can look in and see a fun bright color.
Now the face that made all the late nights that week worth it! She loves her room!!

Busy week!

It all started with this room...(This is where my brothers have been living for the last 2-3 years. Now we are without any of my siblings and Adona gets her room! Yeah!!)

Next came this can of paint.

Then came all the painting! Adona had a ton of fun helping and was actually pretty good. I was worried about spills and there were not any! It went pretty fast, but I was still up until 12 finishing.

Next came this dresser:(This was Dave's and his brothers when they were little. You have to love old furniture! Notice the handles!)

And the drawer lining, yuck!

Four Years

This week we celebrated our fourth anniversery. Its hard to be leave that it's been that long ago, but its also hard to remember life any different. We had a simple, but probably my favorite celebration. We went to the temple and then to dinner. It was peaceful and wonderful to just be together.

Giveaway

This is a giveaway I have been wanting the last few days. I have been thinking a lot about how to make healthy meals on a budget. Check out this giveaway!