now THAT was a birthday!

Had tons of fun this past week celebrating my 33rd birthday. We went out to my favorite place in Anchorage, the Moose's Tooth for some socializing and refreshments. I didn't count but think about 12 or so people showed up. The Tooth hooked us up with a big table in the back so we had lots of room and nobody was in a rush to leave. Lisa had to leave early to head home and send the girls to bed. A little later, a few of us went out for cocktails at the local sports bar down the street. All in all, a FANTASTIC evening! Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone...I can't remember a birthday I received so much attention.

It's been a tough week otherwise. The girls have been slow to get past the cold I brought back from Kansas. We have definitely past the worst of it...we haven't had a fever in almost a week now but the runny/stuffy noses are annoying everyone. Their poor noses have had it too.

These pictures are from the first day that the girls, especially Alyssa, woke up not feeling good. Cold or no cold, it wasn't going to stop them from enjoying their new table. They LOVE their new table. We have only had a few instances so far where they tried to climb on top. Okay, we've caught them 3 or 4 times standing on top of the table reaching for the mirror. You can't take your eyes off these girls!


You can kinda tell how miserable Alyssa is in this picture. Her nose was so stopped up, she had to walk around with her mouth open to breath.

Just another fun twin activity...overturning a basket full of clean clothes, climbing on top, and sharing germs.







Hard to tell but I think that's Katy displaying the proper technique of climbing onto something tall.

The girls have been working on their smiles. They are getting really good. Here are several attempts at getting one on film. Not bad for our first try.






2 random pictures of Lisa playing with the girls. None of us have been feeling good this week...kudo's to Lisa for her endless energy.


This is the same lake that we went ice fishing. We went back to show the girls the bald eagles but they were gone. Still a beautiful place so I couldn't resist getting out on the ice and taking a few pictures.


For those of you who have not seen it, this is a view of the back of my office looking toward the mountains. This was taken a couple of days ago after we had a couple inches of snow and things cleared out a little. I try to take a walk up to this spot at least once a shift...you can see why. It's a great view and a nice reminder of how lucky I am.