One Year Down, Forever to Go

We made it through our first year - really our 5th together, but first married!  :)  And it was such a fantastic year.  We celebrated this big event in the same style I like to celebrate everything, for a full week straight!  It was great.  Aaron surprised me on Tuesday morning with a new iPad (which I love!) sitting in Ethan's toy basket. When I opened the iPad, he had created an awesome slideshow of pictures and quotes from our first year.  They say the first anniversary is supposed to be a 'paper' gift, well I guess the iPad is a modern twist on the old tradition. 

We took a day to go to the local ski resort and skied together.  With both Ethan and our new puppy, we could only get away together once, not wanting to impose on friends too much.  Instead of spending an evening sitting in a nice restaurant without E, we decided to hit the mountain and really enjoy our free time. We had a blast - fresh snow, not very crowded and a great mountain!  The biggest difference in skiing Alaska vs Colorado is the light - the sun doesn't make it over the mountain ridge at this time of year, so its flat, dusky light all day.  Kind of bizarre!

Ethan enjoyed the day as well, hanging out with Claire, Michael and Lance, our friends who came and watched E for us.  It felt like it took a small army to get away for the day - the Smith's watching Ethan and then two other friends stopping by our house to play with Malley and take her out.  Thank goodness for friends to help make our weekend!   

After downhill skiing, we spent part of the weekend cross country skiing.  We tried out some new trails around town and enjoyed all the new snow.  It was fun switching between downhill and XC skis because they are so different.  Downhill felt so big and clunky after spending so much time on XC this winter.  

After a nice dinner out with Ethan, we spent time at home, enjoying the little family we have created in the last year.  The simple life can be very good!  We also opened one of the bottles of wine my uncle brought to the our wedding.  Since I was preggo at the wedding, I really enjoyed drinking it a year later!  

The library here in Anchorage has a short story time every day where kids get to sing and listen to stories.  I took Ethan for the first time this week and discovered that E loves the library.  As soon as we walked in the door he started talking and didn't stop until we left...and he talked at the top of his lungs.  Usually when we are around people, and even at playmates with lots of babies, E is pretty quiet.  Often he doesn't even make a sound.  For some reason, he felt right at home in the library and just let loose.  He was so excited that he even made one sensitive little two year old cry.

When I read to him at home he sometimes quietly 'talks' while I read (which I thought was good because it would help him make the connection that books have words), sounding like he is reading along with me.  Well, at the library he did the same thing as the lady read to the kids but he did at the top of his lungs.  He kept right on going during the songs too.  We're so happy he loves the library and hope this will turn into a love for books and reading.  And we will keep going back to story time so that as he gets older he learns when to sing and when to listen.  :)

Ethan mimics several things we do in front of him.  He says things we say to him - I say Mama constantly to him and he now says is back!  Yea!  He says it over and over when he's hungry, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what he's saying...but he's saying it!  He can also give high 5's now.  We've been working on this and waving.  He hasn't waved back yet, but he can high 5 with the best of them.  

E and Dad hanging out.  

Here's a shot of our beautiful city looking back across the inlet.  Aaron's office is in the second building on the right.  He looks out into the mountains from his office.  Sunsets in the afternoons turn the snow on the mountains beautiful colors and lucky for him this happens about 3:30-4 now so he is still at his office when it goes down.  (this pic was taken at 10:30 am and you can see the sun isn't over the mountain ridge yet)