Babies and Haircuts

Moriah (right) with a stringer of Rainbows at Quartz Lake.

Steve (with his 'bear gun') and kids up on Murphy Dome...The Hills Are Alive....

Where's there's rocks...kids will climb. This is also on Murphy Dome.

John's 14th birthday! Moriah (right) 10 inches later.

Joseph Isbell

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Willow Rebekah Isbell

We have a beautiful new granddaughter born June 2nd...Willow Rebekah Isbell! Of course I wish I was there to snuggle this precious baby. I will enjoy her through Missy's updates on their blog--for now. Forest, her big brother, will turn 2 years old on the 28th so I'm expecting great updates! Speaking of grandchildren I haven't held yet, Ben and Rebekah's little Joseph is almost 6 months old already!

On the home front, Steve is working! He enjoyed (mostly) having the last six months off. He was just getting into fishing when he got the call from the union. He's working six 10-hour days a week. He's on a team that's putting in new lights out at the airport here. He likes the outdoor work. A few days before landing this job he turned down a job based out of Barrow (on the Arctic Ocean) where he would have been wiring in remote native villages. This was pretty much his dream job but he would have been gone six weeks and home for two weeks. That didn't appeal to any of us.

Brei and Moriah had a girls day out this week and got haircuts. Moriah's sending her braid to Locks-Of-Love again. I was surprised that she wanted to cut it. We all love here new do! Brei is always a great support to Moriah (and all her siblings) so the day was fun for Mo and not too traumatizing.

We went to the top of Murphy Dome, just north of Fairbanks, a few weeks ago. When we got out of the sub a couple of us started singing "The hills are alive..." for we could see forever in all directions with mountain views all around. The dome is covered in tundra consisting of lots of lowbush blueberries, cranberries, wildflowers, and mosses. It was very spongey to walk on. It was a sunny, warm day. We hiked for hours stopping only to snack and for the kids to climb on rock outcroppings. Murphy Dome is a starting point for four-wheelers to head into the wilderness. Made me wish for a four-wheeler. We all look forward to going back up to Murphy Dome again.

The kids were all sick with colds this week so we took the week off from school. It's amazing how much learning they do on their own. Maggie, Sarah, and Grace all read a 20-book series of books this week! Quite an undertaking. Moriah would bake and cook every day so she did a lot of that. John has been setting snares to catch more rabbits. He just came running in the house out of breath trying to explain that a moose had just chased him. The moose was being chased by a dog, John was in his path. Guess they parted at the driveway where John ran up the steps and into the cabin. Makes me think of something my Grandpa used to say, "Don't we have fun!"

This blog is pretty random and I don't know how to insert pictures yet so bear with me and we'll see if it gets better with time.