Not Much Longer!

Finally in the third trimester now. We're in the homestretch!

I am feeling great and very thankful for how God has blessed me with an easy pregnancy thus far. Time seems to have flown by! Only a few more short months and we will be able to meet our little boy!

Alaska just gets more beautiful all the time!

We've been anticipating our Christmas vacation trip for quite a while and now it's nearly time for us to pack our bags and get on a plane! 

The next month is going to be a flurry of fun, friends and family as we make our rounds from Georgia, to New Mexico, make a quick stop in Colorado and finally head back home to prepare for the arrival of Baby Wright!

We look forward to seeing you!

Winter Wonderland

Well, well, well. Thanksgiving is almost upon us!

In the past, I have always been adamant that Christmas is not to be celebrated until AFTER Thanksgiving. There is still a part of me that feels that way, but it's been "looking a lot like Christmas" (at least to me) for nearly two months now! Now that we have snow to top it all, and I can no longer resist the urge to listen to Christmas carols and enjoying the happy glow of Christmas lights.

Home, sweet home!

27 weeks!

We've really been enjoying our "new" house. I suppose it makes us feel more like a "real" family to have a real house. We love curling up on our couch in the evenings to watch a movie or just talk. It's such a luxury to have the washer and dryer in the house and to have a mirror and a sink in the same place, not to mention that we finally have room to store all our groceries! We have space to dedicate to getting ready for baby now, as well as a guest bedroom! *hint hint*

October

Fall has always seemed like the shortest season of them all. In Alaska, it feels even shorter…or maybe it's longer. I haven't quite figured it out yet.

 Back in Georgia, I always knew when fall began by the turning of the leaves, and I defined the commencement of winter by the bare silhouettes of the treetops. Temperature had little to do with anything (much less the dates on the calendar!). But here, the leaves hardly had a chance to turn before they fell and we have since spent weeks in 40ish-degree weather; there is no way I can dub this an "Alaskan winter".

In other news (because I'm sure you're already wondering where I was with paved roads!), Jonathan and I took our monthly trip into Anchorage for grocery shopping/doctor's appointment and made a day-trip up to Fairbanks. It makes me chuckle at how much fun I think it is to sit in a car and drive on a paved road. 

We witnessed a spectacular sunrise!

We also drove through a spot in the mountains where bad weather likes to hang out. It certainly was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! :)

I was determined to see a bear on the way back and kept my eyes well-peeled. At one point I was sure I'd seen one and Jonathan turned the car around for me. When we found the spot again, we couldn't quite tell what we were looking at so I zoomed in with my camera and snapped a picture. Can you spot my "bear"?

Even after we saw the picture, we couldn't figure out what that lump was, until I zoomed it in even closer on my camera's playback. Do you see it now?

My "bear" was the barely visible head of a moose! I suppose I will have to brush up on my "identifying Alaskan wildlife at a glance" skills. ;)

Oh, and one more little piece of news.

It's a boy!

*BIG, HUGE SMILE*

One Summer and One Mountain - Conquered!

We did it! We survived the Alaskan summer!

Haha, big deal, right? The temperature never rose above 80 degrees, right? But no, it isn't the "heat" we feel so triumphant about leaving behind us, it is the "busy season". Life is taking on a more relaxed pace, one we are thoroughly enjoying.

Yesterday was my last day of "full/part-time work" (Don't bother trying to figure that one out.) From now on I will only be working one or two days a week. This is something we are both super-excited about. Jonathan is as ready for a less-stressed-out wife as I am to be one. Bring on the baking and scrubbing and relaxing cups of hot drinks, not to mention baby-planning!

A note here to say that, though I am excited to be scaling back on work, I am very grateful for the time I spent learning about the mysterious world and language of aviation. I don't think I ever crammed as much knowledge into my head over such a short time as I did this summer! Before last May, my world was completely devoid of anything to do with manifests, passenger lists, billing sheets, freight logs or Hobbs time. Now I can understand so much more of what Jonathan talks to me about! LOL.

So, Jonathan and I are enjoying a lot more time together now. We're living it up. We don't skip dinner just to fall into bed sooner and we're not too worn out to do fun things on the weekend....like conquer Tanalian Mountain!

Yup, I told you we'd do it someday and well....at least one of us has now! Jonathan went up with a few friends a few weeks ago and brought me back some amazing pictures which I will now share with you. :)

Conquered! :)

Autumn Leisure :)

Fall is suddenly HERE! After living all my life in one of the states that usually see fall last, I am now living in the state that sees it first! It's a strange feeling watching everyone excitedly anticipating the changing of the season down in the lower 48 while I find myself suddenly surrounded by it, without warning.

Jonathan and I had most of a weekend off together last week. We spent Saturday doing little chores around the house that we'd been meaning to do for weeks. We hadn't had the time to properly organize our house since our grocery run; it felt really good to do that! We also had fun putting together our cheap, little Walmart bookshelf. 

Slowly, finally, we're making our little place look like a home instead of just a parking-spot. Only just in time to leave though, since, as of November 1st, we are moving into a house! Hooray!!! We are super-excited that we'll soon have space to get ready for our littlest Wright, coming in February.  :)

Back to our weekend, on Sunday we were able to go for a hike with a newly-engaged couple here in Port Alsworth. :) Adam and Amy are lots of fun and really adorable together. ;)

We didn't make it all the way up the mountain....the pregnant woman in the group was wheezing and moving at a snail's pace when it started getting steep. *wink* 

Jonathan and I stopped at a beautiful view and chilled together (literally) while Amy and Adam hiked a little further up. It was pretty wonderful.

 We watched the planes coming into land...below us.

We didn't make it to the top but we're still a long ways from home. You can barely see Port Alsworth there, across the bay.

Tanalian Mountain, we'll conquer you someday!