Life is a circus

So, after hanging in Seattle for a bit and unpacking and repacking vehicles, I went to my first (and only) Husky game of the season.

Karen's first Husky game (or any football game for that matter)

Karen and I then drove from Seattle to Portland... pretty uneventful driving day.

While I Portland, I left Karen to hang out with her BFF from Suriname and I hung out with my two favorite young men...

"Angry" Owen

"Happy" Josh

We went to the circus, which was a little overwhelming, but pretty rad.

Who doesn't love it when Elephants sit on stools?

So tomorrow it's off to Tillamook and beyond!! :)

Grateful for family

I love my biological family. They are amazing people who I generally enjoy spending time with. But once again as I returned to Haines yesterday, I was reminded that I have so much more family than people that share my last name. The family that I have in Haines is such a blessing. I was welcomed home with open arms and received four dinner invitations for later that day. People here welcome me into their home as one of their own. When I'm in Seattle, I have a set of parents who love me very much and a sibling who is pretty close and one who is a few hours away. But when I am in Haines, I have three sets of parents, siblings next door and down the street, little people who love me almost as much as Owen, Calla, and Josh, and a smattering of grandparents here and there. I am so blessed to live in a town that has so much love to share. As I went to a memorial service for one of those grandparents yesterday, I was reminded of what living a selfless, loving life can really be like and how long that memory will live on. Arlene Jackson will be missed for a long time to come. But Haines still has a lot to offer.

Weekend Highlights

Spending five days with the family can be super fun and tiring all at the same time. But generally, some awesomeness will ensue... so let's focus on the positive, shall we?

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Calla has learned her "t" sound well enough to call me Kate rather than kak.

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Josh knocked over the tower that Owen had proudly been working on and wandered around the room saying "I knocked it" with a huge grin on his face.

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Laughing so hard I cried with my siblings playing a random word game... and no, Bonzo is not a clown.

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Best alarm clock ever -getting jumped on by a four year old

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Owen asked me if I was married. Because the only reason anyone would ever wear a ring is if they were married, right? I told him he'd probably know if I got married.

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Josh 'riding' his bike


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Scott's version of parkour -running around the playground equipment and then throwing his arms in the air after a successful landing

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Watching the huskies beat the cougars with five other former huskies and the future huskies (hopefully)... and a falcon (who is a husky fan out of necessity by marrying a Maxwell)...

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Actual conversations with my family since I'm not a great phone talker

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Remembering that I do actually have a significant number of things in my life to be thankful for

Grateful for Family

I got to spend a few days with my nephews this week. They pretty much make my heart happy...

Grateful Heart Friday

We'll see how long this one lasts, but I'm doing some blog-idea stealing... and from now until I either forget or am not near a computer, each Friday, I'll be posting something I'm grateful for...

This week I'm super grateful for my parents. As if living in their second house rent-free isn't awesome enough, they take me out to dinner. I got to go have sushi with my dad this week and have an awesome conversation. And after dinner he gave me $20 because I got suckered into a useless school fundraiser by the baseball team. I'm grateful for my cozy new(ish) mattress that I get to sleep on every night. I'm grateful for my core group girls who challenge me to be a better Christian without really even realizing it. I'm grateful for a half day at school. And, today, I'm particularly grateful for my onesie.

fishing and walking and fishing some more

Ashley and I got to Kenai on Tuesday, so I had a couple days to myself while Ashley passed the interview process from the boyfriend's family. I went fishing on the Kasilof River and caught myself a sweet king salmon. I'll be sharing that with my family when I get to Seattle in July.


Then we headed up to Anchorage where Ash, Mom, Dad, and I walked 13.1 miles. Dad says he's ready to do it again next month. They won't, but he's already looking at half marathons in different places for next year. Pretty sweet.

Then Pa and I went fishing on the Kenai. We spent about 10 hours on the river with not even a bite... I think it's because we were out there to spread Grandpa's ashes and that crusty old fart was looking down on us and didn't want any of the attention of the day taken away from him. Besides, we fished a couple weeks with grandpa and caught only one, so it seemed like it's how it was supposed to be. (and I'm pretty sure that fishing in the Kenai isn't as good as people claim...)

active yet lazy

The active part...
All the Maxwells are doing some sort of fitness challenge this year. My parents are walking a half marathon, my sister-in-law Alissa is running a half marathon, my sister-in-law Sara is walking a full marathon, Ryan is running a marathon (or biking the STP), Scott is gonna mountain bike something fierce, and me, well, I'm gonna take 4 million steps in 2010. 10958.9 per day, in case you were wondering. I started a little late, so I'm a little behind. But walking 20,000 steps each of the past two days is getting me right back up there. But not to give into healthiness (between my family and my doctor I'm actually being healthy right now), I do still have my lazy moments. Which leads me to...
The lazy part...
Yesterday, I wanted some eggs, since that's one of the three foods that I can eat. And I knew that I would want some more today. So rather than wash the pan and sit there over the stove twice, I cooked twice the eggs and microwaved my breakfast this morning. The pan is still on the stove, dirty. Don't judge... it's hard to do dishes when you can't use your thumb...

maxwells

Within the span of just over 24 hours, I saw my whole family. Well, at least my brothers and their families. That pretty much never happens outside of Christmas, so it was pretty fun. Highlights from this weekend include:
-Owen thinking he can scare anyone by saying "BOO" at any point in time (and me pretending to be scared every time)
-Getting to hang out with baby Josh (despite some spit-up)
-Owen telling me that I have big toes (and me telling him that at least they aren't as big as his daddy's)
-Making Calla giggle by putting her on my shoulders and running or jumping (even though she tries to eat my hair)
-14 hours in the car with Ethel laughing at random stuff (like people who are really, really bad at parallel parking)
-Getting to have conversations with my big brothers and their wives (a total of four people... no one in my family is polygamous)

Oh, and btw, a Sky High update... it turns out that I stretch or strained or in some other way injured the ligament in my thumb, so I now have a brace on it to prevent it from moving for the next 6 weeks.... on the bright side, it is stationed in such a way that I can still hold a ski pole and a kayak paddle (not at the same time, of course).

And in case anyone was wondering, I'm ready to be back in Haines any time now...

time in Bend

not the best picture ever, but Josh is still pretty cute. It makes me smile that Owen LOVES his little brother and refers to him as Joshie. I had some good times with Owen, playing with Legos and drawing and poking play dough. He is so different from the last time that I saw him. It was great to be able to hang out with Scott and Alissa and their growing family a little bit.

same old, same old

Things are standard. Life is good. I'm getting close to being done with the last of my undergrad beefing up, which will be glorious. Other than that, I'm excited to head down to the lower 48 on Monday to see my fam.

New Maxwell?? HECK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

So, my 24th birthday was this past Sunday, and I got the best birthday present EVER! Joshua Todd Maxwell was born at 1:48 AM Sunday morning. I also celebrated by sitting in the back of a 15 passenger van with 12 8th graders from Tok to Haines. We went to an awesome youth conference in Anchorage over the weekend and got back on my birthday. I'll probably write more about the trip later, but for now I just felt the need to share with anyone and everyone that there is a new maxwell in the world!

life and times of kate

Life is standard. I'm still working at the coffee shop, cleaning the bank, and pounding through school stuff. Life is good. I'm working on having some down time. I'm usually really good at that, but lately it's been a little harder for me. I'm taking Economics right now, which is lame, but it's all for a tangible purpose, which makes it easier. It's a gorgeous day in Haines, which is great, but I can see the snow creeping down the mountains heading for town, which makes me think that it's going to be winter all too soon, which really is inevitable in Haines, but alas, it's just the way it is. I miss my niece and nephew. The rest of the family I can talk to regularly, but it's a little harder with kids under 3... oh well.

mothers day

For all you fools out there who think they have the best mom ever... I challenge you to a mom-off. Mine would win.

in hawaii

I love hanging out with my family. They make me happy. So far I've swam with sea turtles, had a fruity drink with an umbrella by the pool, seen some amazing sunsets, seen a whole heap of dolphins and hung out with my family a bunch. I like it here. :)

me and ma in juneau

We had some time to kill, so we walked out to Mendenhall Glacier (the thing on the Alaska Pale label).
This pic was taken shortly before I put my foot in some melting ice water... not recommended.



When we were in snowshoeing in Haines, Ethel fell amazingly down a small hill. You know, one of those slow-motion tumbling actions when the person gets up laughing and you know all is well... This video was me waiting at the bottom half hoping that she did it again.

Ma in Haines

ma ice fishing

ma and me at battery point

Christmas Recap 08

This Christmas was pretty good. Although I was not able to eat normally and thus had to pass up the traditional Maxwell breakfast casserole and prime rib dinner, it was a good day. I got to hang out with my whole family in one place, which hasn't happened since April, I think. My niece and nephew are getting so cute. I like them a lot. We played a lot of Wii and made a lot of wii jokes. I was called wii-tarded a lot. One of my brothers got a wii-eat down. My sister-in-law told us about hitting her wii-mote against the wall. And Winnie, my brothers Wii-ton terrier was a fun target as well.

oh, mexico

just got back from Mexico, where i did in fact hear james taylor sing about it, which made my day. it wasn't really all that great. i mean, i did get to hang out on the beach a bit and chill, but i went to clean out my grandpa's house of personal things, so it wasn't super fun. better in mexico than somewhere that it is only 30 degrees. so now i'm in seattle until the new year. i think one of my favorite parts of being in seattle is that i'm going to be able to see the new bond movie. there's only a few times that living in haines, and, thus, not having a theater, bothers me, but when a new 007 movie comes out, it for sure tops that list. so i'm stoked. i'm sure i'll post my review of the movie later :)

to Oregon and back

I got to hang out with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew this weekend. It was pretty rad. Super low key. I like Bend. And I really like watching my nephew run around. My family is cool.

My Next Destination

I am headed out to the East Coast on Thursday. I'm pretty stoked. I'm just killing time until then.
In other news, my Grandpa moved back to Seattle(ish). I haven't lived in the same state as him since I was 5. It's weird. He's dying, so that adds a little complexity to things, but it's a good thing overall.