Major Family Pictures- Fall 2011

We did our annual family pictures in our back yard, and in the neighborhood this year... They turned out fantastic! Shay does a fantastic job at catching the perfect moments! Here are just a few of the hundreds she took!!! Enjoy! 

Denali National Park - Road Lottery

Denali National Park is a beautiful place here in Alaska. It is home to Mt. McKinley and lots of wildlife. Every year after the park closes for the season, the state holds a lottery. 16,000 people applied this year and only 1,200 we lucky enough to get a ticket... We were one of the lucky ones! If you win a ticket you get to drive your own personal vehicle the entire road of 92 miles. I know this doesn't sound like much, but Denali is a "tour only" park. Which means you can only see the park on a tour bus, no personal vehicles allowed... Anyway, we were lucky enough to get a ticket, and I was so excited for the chance to get to see the park at my own pace and without a crowd of 50 people trying to push to get out the door! 

Jason and I decided since we had not been away from Zach since he was born that maybe this would be a good weekend to test it out and see how we all did... So Jay and Carrie said they would love to take Zach for the weekend. I was nervous, but I knew it had to happen... We left Friday afternoon and headed down to Denali. We arrived and to make a long story short, it was a hilarious trip! We had to switch rooms, we were trying to find a heavy set guy who was stuck in a bathtub, we forgot to charge the cameras, and I paid $5.00 a gallon for gas since I forgot to top off the tank! LOL! Great times had by us!!!

Anyway, here are some of the pictures and memories from our trip. It was a great time, and we were able to see just about everything you could imagine.

These are Mountain goats... Little white dots... Again, I need a new camera!

This was our tour guide. This fox ran up the road for easy 15 miles!!! He refused to get off the road and we just kept following!

These are Dahl Sheep... Again white dots!

Momma Grizzly and 2 cubs! This was by far the best moment of the trip!!!

 Yep!!! She brought them right to me!!! They crossed right in front of the truck! I was so excited!!! Although I really wanted to hold that last little guy! He was so FUZZY!!!!!

Mt. McKinley- it was a beautiful morning!!!

Wonder Lake- We stopped here for lunch and hiked a few of the little trails. It was beautiful!

A creek we had to cross. I thought it was pretty.

 This is the end of the road.. It comes up to the runway and just ends... No visitor center, nothing... Just a few orange cones and planes taking off..
 Gotta love the simple things!

BIG Grizzly! in my binoculars!!! LOL! I know Its a crazy picture, but he was HUGE!!!!

That was our trip! And it was a great trip at that!!!

   

Really?!?!

I am just going to tell you all right now,  I will be taking in donations for Christmas for a new camera, as I am going to throw mine out the window!!! We took a ton (137 to be exact) of pictures with my cool little cannon power shot camera while we were on our once in a lifetime trip through Denali... Maybe 20 of them turned out  not blurry or crappy! That camera is just not good with zooming pictures. there are little white dots on the mountain that I could see fine in my screen on my camera, but once I put them on the computer, they were CRAP!!!! Oh so frustrating!!! It's great for birthday parties, and quick snapshots, but that's not enough... So that's my rant for the day.

Mud!!!!

Mud Bogs!!! Jason raced his Jeep in the local mud bogs and of course Zach loved it!!! We also had our good friends little girl Cara with us for the weekend. She loved riding in the races with "Uncle Jason". Here's the mud and more pictures of the weekend.

Zach just can't get enough of the 4 wheeler!!! The big one was put away, so he climbed on his! Cara said she would take him for a ride!!! 

Fair time in Fairbanks!

Our little fair was in August and we took Zach to play! He liked riding the rides, loved the animals, and enjoyed the food too! Jason went on a few rides with him, I went on a few, and then Jason said "lets see how he does by himself." He loved it!!!

It was a great time! And we had tears when all the tickets were gone and it was time to leave. Next year we will bring other kids with us so we aren't the only adults riding the baby rides!!!

Trip to utah

We made a SURPRISE trip to Utah! It was my grandpa's 80th birthday and we wanted to be part of the fun! No one knew we were coming except Cjani. She kept a good secret! Everyone was up at the cabin and we pulled in and the whole family was shocked! I loved it!!! Finally pulled off a great surprise! Here are some pictures of our trip in no random order...

Zach and mommy surprised everyone!

Cjani took Zach swimming to the pool and he loved it!!!

Terry was in on Grandpa's surprise as well. Family picture!

We went to the Zoo with Nikki and Taylee! So much fun!!!

Bear lake! Zach loved the sun and so did mom!!!

Walks with great grandpa at the cabin! Great Grandpa's little buddy!

Schmidt Family 4 generations!

We also got to shop, visit with great friends, eat great food and just have a great trip!!! We are so grateful for all the people around us and being able to spend time with great people!!! Zach loved all the attention! Thanks everyone for making us feel right at home!!!