Anchorage's New Assembly Members

Tonight was another bittersweet family milestone. Jared was elected to the Anchorage Assembly.  The election results were certified, and the newly elected members took an oath of office and were sworn into their roles.  The five of us drove up and met Jamin at the Library. The meeting started earlier but the guess was the swearing in would take place around 8:30 p.m. 

It turns out Stanley and Theo, friends, had saved seats up front for us. Most the family stopped short of the very front row which they had for us. I went right on up and Michael joined me before the ceremony. There seemed to be quite a bit of last-minute amendments to be discussed and voted on before the new members were seated. 

This gave me time to think. Josiah would have been right up on the very front row with me. He would have been in the middle of the picture taking and hugs. I ached to hear his laugh and teasing comments. As is, we can only imagine what he would have had to say to Jared on such an auspicious occasion. 

Finally, at 9:24 p.m. the elections results had been certified, outgoing members had shared thoughts, and they were ready to swear in the newly elected members. 

4 in the middle are 1st time assembly members; 2 on end re-elected

Taking the oath

Signing the Oath

First time assembly members

Jared, ?, ?, Yarrow Silvers 📷by Theo

How did I get such front on shots...went right up with the real photographers! LOL Jamin caught me. 

Jamin, Allie, Stacia, Jared, Michael, De'Etta

Good friends who stuck with Jared after the first campaign. It was fun to celebrate with them. 

?, Jared, Stanley, Theo, Jamin 

Theo grabbed a shot of the whole family with two extras. LOL 

There it is - it's getting real. 

📷by Theo

One more family photo. 

Stacia, Allie, Mike, Jared, Me, Jamin 📷by Theo

📷by Theo

It was surreal to watch Jared swear an oath to a political office...to see his name up there...and him on the dais. All those years of civics and history lessons ran through my mind. He determined early he would serve somehow in politics and here he is being sworn in to his first post college elected role. 

The view looking back as we left the room to come home. The meeting still had several hours to go...but we were outta there! Jared is the 3rd from the left on the dais. 

A Very Busy Tuesday

 Some days are surprisingly busy. I have the margin in life to do spur of the moment grand visits as needed. I watched Benny, Danny and Ellie this morning while Arielle and Charles had a meeting with his teacher to plan the upcoming year for him. We have two free-range chickens, Stella (with the missing toe) and Myrna (just old) both were being picked on in the chicken yard. Stella has claimed the hay bale on the porch as her roost. Michael moved a box for her to the front...and now we have a porch chicken to greet one and all. Ready eggs.

Stella and Benny

I started teaching the boys the basics of Frisbee golf. The very basics. 

Little Miss was determined to be in the middle of the fun, though she couldn't quite get the hang of throwing. LOL 

The boys went on a treasure hunt to find things left over from Sunday (I am working on narrowing down photos and will blog Sunday later).  Their search netted them a ball, car, a moose, an empty plastic egg, and a couple of fun pieces of trash.  Then Danny wanted to play Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. 

Danny was persistent to encourage me to find the car battery and put it in...so he got the first turn. 

Ellie was pretty sure she was missing out in the wagon. 

I was RIGHT nearby. 

The battery ran down at the bottom of the yard. It cracked me up to see Danny pushing it up the incline. 

Once he got it going he jumped in....and worked hard to get the lagging battery to go just a bit further. 

Do you see Millie through the baby gate? 

The pace picked up after Arielle grabbed the boys. I needed Dad to get two papers notarized. 

We went to the lawyer and waited while he prepared the 5th amendment to the trust we are trying to submit with a state application for Dad. 

They notarized this trust and Dad's annual disability check from the state of Washington. 

We were feeling proud of our progress and went to lunch. Dad loves the family that runs a local diner. We used to stop in fairly often on Sundays but haven't hit them since we are attending church in Eagle River. The son was going off duty but stayed to chat with Dad for a bit. The daughter has been in Chicago but is home for a week so it was a good time to stop in. 

We went to the court to register the trust. I didn't have the Trust Registration form. 

We went back to the lawyer for the trust registration form. 

We went back to the courthouse and discovered we had the wrong form. We needed an AMMENDMENT to Trust Registration form. She printed me a copy, I'm not sure why she didn't do that before I was sent back to the lawyer. 

I filled it out she notarized it. 

We went to the post office and mailed the form to WA. 

We went to the pharmacy. 

We went to the library. 

We came home. 

It was 4:30. I scanned the new trust and the form showing it was registered so I could email it to the state today. I looked it over one last time and noted the court clerk notarized the form, but she did not STAMP it saying the court received it on this date....and I'm 98% sure if I submit this to the state, they will reject it because the stamp isn't on it. The courthouse closes at 4:30 p.m. I'll have to take it back tomorrow.  The lawyer said he is either never doing another one of these or he is going to bill himself as an expert and start advertising once they accept this one. I know how he feels. I told him I called the list of lawyers ADRC gave me and all of them told me they no longer do these trusts. I understand now. 

Dad is taking a nap. We will be leaving in about an hour for Anchorage. This may be the Tuesday that refuses to end. LOL 

Monday with Josiah's Girls

 I do love my Mondays with Josiah's girls. Josi was much cheerier this week when she saw it was me instead of Mama. LOL 

We spent some time hanging out in her room and playing with her plastic food and books before we moved onto breakfast. This seemed to make for a smoother start. Josi LOVES this basket of plastic market food. 

In addition to Josi and Liv, there is also Willow.

What is that between her paws? 

Yes, there is a new member in the household...and Willow is obsessed with cat toys. 

Meet Stormey, the only male in the household. He's a snuggler.

Liv got off to school and Josi and I settled into our rhythm of play, eat, nap repeat . I took advantage of her nap segments to blog and to complete an assessment interview for dad with the ADRC. 

Wheels of any type seem to be Josi's vibe. 

I ducked into the bathroom and came back to fine THIS. In case you can't tell, that's a baby gate at the top of the stairs she is trying to figure out. WHAT????

Why are you so excited Bachan? 

The highlight of the day is when Olivia comes home from school. 

I stopped by the cemetery to process... another flannel Monday down. 

Easter 2025 or April Family Gathering

Note: I cannot keep track of who took which picture. If I took them the Hashtag will be on them. You can assume the staged ones were taken by the respective families....other than that....I just am not sure. 

This month our Family Gathering fell the day before Easter. We planned to do both until the logistics began to give me anxiety and I called uncle on Thursday. I suggested we combine both family gathering and Easter as it appeared the same people were coming both days. This allowed us a down day after Stacia got home from Japan, gave us a relaxed household birthday celebration for Allie...and we hit strong on Easter. 

This was Cory's first Easter as a lead pastor and so the Valley contingent chose to attend Wasilla Community Church. It was good to be able to hug and cuddle with grands - freeing a bit of Arielle's mental energy to deal with logistics of a big Sunday. It was a full house and a great service. 

This was not Kaelyn and Rylan's weekend with Luke and Krista, but everyone else was able to make it.  It was great. We continue to try to get four or five tables in the room...next month we'll try them all down the center aisle....because this makes it hard to move once everyone is at the tables.  

 We weren't 100% sure if it would be a nice day and so we waited on pulling out all the yard toys and such. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The guys (mostly) were gracious to help Michael unload yard toys, the house, chairs etc.  We enjoyed some time just playing outside before everyone arrived and we were ready to eat. 

Ellie and Cory 

Bella and Jamin 

Noah, Larissa and Mike and some big bubbles

Charles and Danny

You KNOW it's really spring when the house, the car and all the other fun toys begin to reappear. The trampoline is still down. 

Josi and Carrie

Carrie and Livie

Noah tries to move the house from inside...

Noah and Jared

Izaak, Ellie and Cory 

We do not always have an egg hunt. This year we did.  While everyone came in to start through the food line, the big guys ducked out and hid eggs. Lots of eggs. The best and worst of our personalities come out during an egg hunt. We gave the littles 5 min alone to pick-up eggs and then all the kids joined in. Some eggs were simply lying on the ground; others were harder to find. The guys did a good job. 

Benny, Liv, Jojo

Bella hunts, Bre supervises

Josi isn't 100% sure what to do with the egg

Arielle & Krista

Ellie - hmm - not sure why there's so much excitement

Jojo

This interaction warmed my heart. Jojo saw an egg up in the tree. He couldn't reach it. Benny came over to help get it. I watched to see if he would take it when he got it. He couldn't get it to shake loose. Livie came over and helped them and they gave the egg to Jojo. It was so kind and just the sort of thing Josiah would have done at Liv's age. I had a "moment" - Josiah's absence and presence are both so close when we gather. I later told Livie she reminded me of Josiah at her age and how proud he would be of her and how proud Papa and I are her. 

Liv, Benny, Jojo

In November Michael and I came up with the idea of a family game every month. Random prizes, something everyone could participate in...Our idea was to pull everyone together as it had become a bit disjointed.  Krista and Luke took over the game this month. Luke manned the gift table, and Krista oversaw the balloon popping. They filled ballons with numbers. They bought prizes and labeled them with numbers. These were laid on a picnic table. Each person pulled a balloon, popped it and got a number. They took the number to Luke at the prize table and were awarded the prize which corresponded to the number. We went alphabetically this month. I think pure randomness or alphabetical is a good way to line up.   

OH! This would be a good time to clear up a question some have asked - because I'm at the keyboard and thinking of it. LOL In the military one learns not to count assignments as "for sure" until boots are on the ground in the new location and in-processing is complete. There is nothing horribly alarming or unusual about their assignment switching. Krista does not have an illness we haven't disclosed, the military is not disciplining her... during our military career we have known many who had orders changed last minute or even enroute....this is one reason the term "short orders" came about. LOL Bottom line is the assignment officers' main goal is the needs of the military and so for a variety of reasons assignments do change...even after orders are cut. It's a giant Tetris game and until everyone is settled at the end of a pcs season things are subject to change. Once one assignment moves, another often moves until it all settles down. Your concern is sweet. Wherever they end up moving this summer; they will be missed in Alaska. 

Luke & Krista 

Stacia discovers her "number"

It takes a village to burst some balloons

Carrie one a decal and a Twix bar.

I think Charles got a yoyo?

Love Danny's technique

Luke with prizes. 

Crumble gift card and a candy bar for Stacia.

Larissa helps Noah unwrap his prize. 

Arielle & Ellie explore Ellie's prize. 

Benny is happy. 

Cory won the "big" prize this month - gift certificates to the Escape Room in town. 

Josi's tired

Noah, Jared & Josi

Jared, Noah and Michael 

Krista bought a pinata for Jared after his lost run for state senator. The idea was to take out some frustration in a fun way.  The weather was never nice enough to pull it out until today. 

The kids wholeheartedly approved of extra candy. It was a sugar rich Easter. 

We moved inside to celebrate our April Birthdays. We missed Rylan and was glad we were able to send his gift through other avenues. Bella and Allie were here - so we sang and ate. Bella is 9. Unbelievable. 

Bella took one for the team and wore the pig hat. 

We didn't get an ice cream cake made. I sent Allie and Stacia to go buy some dessert. They found an ice cream cake....and a cheese cake. 

Bella (9) and Allie (21)

The last thing we had to celebrate this month is Jared's win to the Anchorage Assembly. Michael and I worked together, scoured the internet and crated a Political Survival kit to give Jared.  

And then we mingled outside until the evening arrived, and we needed to go home and think about the upcoming week. 

Larissa and a BIG bubble. 

Bre & Trudy 

I was happy to catch this moment. Bella was tickling Josi and then jumping to the other side when Josi turned to find her. It was cute. 

Josi & Bella 

Cory, Ellie and Jamin 

Noah

Jojo

Alex

Jojo

Gideon

I have so many more photos I could include but this is plenty. I will conclude with the cute family photos each family posted to their Facebook accounts. 

Josi and Noah at ACF nursery 

Josi and Noah

Noah

Noah 

Danny, Charles, Arielle, Ellie & Danny

Jojo, Annie, Bre, Bella, Gideon, Trudy in front

Josi, Carrie and Livie

Olivia and Josi

Carrie and Josi

It was a great day. At the end of the day (this was about 9:45 p.m.) the girls and I talked Japan, jetlag, grief, family, Easter in the hot tub.