September 2015

   

My dear brother, Jake, is currently living in Bethel, Alaska working as a dentist at the native hospital. We don’t get to see each other too too much, probably a couple times a year, and we all wish he lived closer. 

We texted the other day and he said he just got out of Denali, and I wondered if he might be in Anchorage when Chris and I flew out. But I forgot and never asked. 

To get to Anchorage from Homer, it’s a four hour drive. It is an option to fly from Homer to Anchorage, but it’s not inexpensive so Chris and I drive when it makes sense. Christopher and I left home when we planned and were doing pretty good on time. There was some construction on the drive up and lots of fireweed fluff fluff!  The yellow leaves were so beautiful too. Fall… It’s lovely. 

   
 
  
Anyway, when we finally made it to the airport we were cutting it so close on time. Nobody likes that. Chris insisted everything would be okay, and that’s always nice to hear. Security took much longer than normal to get through, and normally it’s a pretty quick process. But I was standing there staring off and I hear, “Chelsea” and then I looked up and there was my brother! We got to hang out for about a half hour and it was so good. Rejuvenating. I love family and I’m really proud of Jake. 

 Chris and I leave tomorrow and next week we’ll be in Brazil! I can’t wait to go back. Glory glory glory. We’ll be in Georgia/Florida for some work and play stuff for the next week, and then… BRASIL. I loved my time there and can’t wait to reconnect with the people and gain more and more appreciation for the land and culture, and to share that all with Chris.    
    
   

Being an aunty is the greatest. Playing mom for a few days is harder. :) I guess there are bigger ups and downs, greater struggles, greater rewards. 

This morning was more difficult. There was some crying, fighting, frustration, I yelled, I apologized, and in the end the girls both told me they loved me when they got out of the car. <3 Natalie actually didn’t say “I love you” but she sent kissy lips my direction. I love my nieces so much and I’ll be so happy to give them cousins someday. 

So last night when I went into the bedroom, I found Edelweiss already warming up the bed for me. :)

The girls are going to stay with us for a couple days methinks. Tonight we got their room set up (aka I cleaned out all the junk that’s been collecting in there, stashed some of it in the crawl space and garage and put a bunch in a pile to get rid of) and they put glow in the dark stars all over. It’s wonderful. Christopher and I need to put some more in our room too.

The girls were kind of disappointed that they didn’t get good, fun, Chelsea hangout time tonight. I’m not sure what they were expecting, but there just wasn’t a lot of time tonight. It’s a school night so we can’t exactly stay up till 3 am like last time. :)

I’m excited to have the girls with us though and I love them so much. They help me be a better person and aunty and future mother. In this picture they’re fake sleeping, but right now they’re real sleeping, which is important. Glad they’re here!  
Chris and I are having a sleepover tonight too. :) He’s texting his brother right now and I’m blog journaling as you can see. We just had a big talk about our pets growing up and it was funny and good. He told me about raising rabbits, and having a pen full of baby bunnies. They stopped raising rabbits when they found out people were getting them for snake food. He said they always had plenty of cats too. I told Chris about all the dogs we’ve had through the years. I remembered Bosco, Buffy, Jazzi, Pickard, Peanut, Maggie, Peanut, Schnapps, Sammy, Buddy, Emma, Isabella, Daisy, and a few cats here and there. And also there were the chinchillas, iguana, african gray parrot, ducks, chickens, birds, bunnies… Yay animals. They’re so nice to have.

What a delightful saturday. My dear mother picked me up this morning, just after 8, so I could go to my sister’s house for a little bit and watch her girls. I look young in this picture, like 12, maybe because I just woke up. At least I’m wearing my favorite blog reader‘s Brooklyn sweater!  

I had a great morning with the girls. I love being with them. Sometimes I get frustrated, but usually it’s just fun and I learn lots from them. Today, Natalie (8) and I were staring at each other and she told me I have hair on the end of my nose. Funny girl. Then she said we have hair all over our faces so pretty much everyone has a mustache.

I cleaned a house on the bluff this afternoon and the view was spectacular. It’s sometimes such a joy to clean up on the hill, because it’s so beautiful from there.

This afternoon I cleaned out my ol’ trusty (and rusty) Penelope Q. Subaru. The dust was caking on her (and all the little plastic toys glued to the dash) and it was overdue for a cleaning! It feels much lovelier and less embarrassing in there now.

Man, I ate a load of chocolate tonight. I feel kinda sick. And dinner was so delicious and nutritious, so I don’t know why I felt the need to wash it down with chocolate haha.

Today I got the GREATEST MAIL ever! It brought me so much joy to hear from Ezio and Jeane, and to see a picture of their sealing two years ago at the temple. Those two… Oh how I love them!!! They’re some of my very very most favorite peeps from my mission and people I think about most days.  

When Chris and I are home together in the evenings, we watch movies usually. He continues working and I do random stuff. Today I colored.

Beautiful beautiful harbor views!! 
I’m sleepy. Time to cuddle with my bestest boy Christopher! Hope you enjoyed these photos and random words and thoughts that might not string together very well. :) Peace out girl  scout.

My dad went back to work yesterday. For a month instead of two weeks. He just sent this picture, said it’s snowing, and that he just saw a polar bear. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, and it turns out he wasn’t. He said, “it wasn’t a very big one though.” And  he also texted two emojis of a panda bear. :)

Also my kitties joined Edelweiss and I on a walk this morning and it was funny. Cats. Hahaha
 I just went to saveumore (Homer’s mini Costco like store) to get some cardboard boxes from their recycle bins. There was a nice and funny older man there getting newspaper. He told me that newspaper is like fine linen or something haha. And that he’s using it for cleaning up from canning. When I left I said, “have a good day!” And he said, “Week… A day isn’t long enough.” :)
Been praying and fasting a lot lately and that is good and true and powerful.

My oldest sister, her husband, and my darling nieces have pretty much always loved here in Homer. It is soooo nice having them here. That family had filled my life with fun, adventure, and good food.

They’ve been in Minnesota (where my brother in law is from) for the past week and a half, and today my sister and her girls get home. I’ll be so very glad to have them home.

Here’s  some pictures of what’s gone on this September month so far. As per usual, boat cleaning. It’s getting darker so much earlier now. I really shouldn’t be cleaning past 9 pm, but sometimes I do. Thanks to the harbor lights, it makes it sort of okay, and I can still clean fine. Chris has helped me clean more boats lately which is always so awesome because it goes 2-3x faster. 

Here’s our lawn. :) It’s about 7 feet tall or so. Hahaha. We never mowed it. Chris bought the house 3.5 years ago and it wasn’t landscaped. It still isn’t. Obviously. It bothers me what our neighbors might think, but I know we’re good people, even though we haven’t made a lawn. :) And it mostly just bothers me what one of our neighbors thinks about us, because we’ve already got some conflicts with our dog and her dogs. I hate tension in relationships and I don’t really know what to do about that. Honor my senses I suppose.

The past few days have been sad and emotional with a family crisis, but this flower made me happier. I usually pick them a lot throughout the summer and use them as natural air fresheners in my car. They’re SO fragrant. They’re like Alaskan roses or something. I don’t know. But I love them. I pick them from the high school or by the bowling alley/flashing stop light.

My mom bought this dollhouse kit ten years ago, and I’ve been working on it the last six months. I won’t tell you how many hours I’ve put into it haha. It’s been a lot of work and some fun too. Mostly I look forward to putting in all the cute little furniture and having my nieces play with it at grandma’s house.

  
Edelweiss gets her walk every morning. Chris usually takes care of this and I clean up the house from the night before, and often I make a fruit and veggie smoothie for us. As soon as Chris gets back from the walk or run with Edelweiss he heads to the office. And he’s been spending most of his time there lately being pretty busy with a big project he and his team are working on. Some days I stay home (which is my favorite), some days I clean guest houses, and some days I substitute teach. The past few days I’ve been watching a friend’s baby too. I want a babies. Soonish.

I love to be home. Cleaning never seems to end, and I know it’ll only get more as we have kids. It’s just me and Chris and our animals now! But there’s an unending list of house stuff, and I love having and making a home.

I love going to church. I love the feeling when I follow the spirit.  I love personal progress. I love the young women here. I love that I had no boats to clean tonight. I love my home. I loved when my nieces and I built a fort in it last week and we stayed up till 3 am and I made brazilian rice and beans and rice krispies and we watched Egyptian cartoons and documentaries. I love my nieces. And I love their parents. My sister and her husband are a blessing to my family. I love them and they love each other.

I love my dad. It’s his birthday today. he is one of the coolest beans I know. My family, each of them help me a lot, and I love being with them. I love God and that he has given me such good, good people.