Christmas in Alaska with the Olver's!

So here we all are in the frozen north! The gang made it up here to see Samuel and to celebrate Christmas. Here are pictures from the past week. We played music, went to North Pole, cooked, ate, and hiked around our village and tried not to get into too much trouble. This is Santa's house at North Pole. The town celebrates him year round, kinda like Leavenworth.

Hannah playin' the drums

Josh on the drums

Sam and Uncle Dan. Sam had a few issues with gas and would stop crying if Daniel held him.

Wandering around with Aunt Margaret. They were going to see the sights but he fell asleep....

Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve. Trying to get in one last feeding before the guests show up!

Me and Sam, he's having his Christmas Eve Dinner.

Sarah and Grace helping get dinner ready

This ice sculpture celebrates Alaska's 50th year as a state this year. The ice sculptor at North Pole did a great job!

At a Christmas shop in North Pole, Josh, Dad, and Margaret.

This is AK's idea of wall decor.....

We found the polar bear! Sarah and Grace with the bear in Santa's shop.

Eating at North Pole McDonald's. Even McDonald's is Christmas Themed.

Hannah and Margaret in the van on the way to North Pole.

The Tanana Valley between Fairbanks and Nenana, white with snow.

First Sponge Bath!

This is after his bath when he was all peaceful! His cord hadn't fallen off yet so he got his first sponge bath with his Nana. He didn't like the water part but he loves the lotion and massage!

Nana washing his little head.

Nana took this pic, a little close, but the face is priceless!

Just after being washed, nice and clean!

Samuel is here!

Ok, so I'm slow at uploading because things have been a little nuts and the pics are in no particular order, but he is here and we have the pics to prove it! I woke up friday morning feeling like I had bad constipation pain and after an hour of intense pain, I realized they were coming about 5 min apart. After a call to the Dr. we headed in to get checked and began the aweful hour long drive in -20 weather. I say aweful not because of the weather, but if you've ever had contractions that hurt so bad you wanted to pass out and you were stuck in a car, you would describe it as aweful too! That and we hit a snow chicken along the way, ripping a hole in the front of our car. Its head it lodged and frozen inside our car and now the car runs colder because we have a massive hole. Ok, so anyways, I got chekced by the dr. and was 5 cm and got to go to the hospital. Long story short after a day of labor, 2 hrs of pushing, and the vacuum helping get him "unstuck", Samuel Gregory arrived Dec 4th at 9:44pm weighing 8lbs 1oz and measuring 21 in long!


In this pic he is 4 days old and still working off the jaundice. He was slightly pumkin colored and the green hat just accents that.

This is his aunt and grandmas watch him get checked out in the nursery!

20 minutes old

Tiny foot prints

Just Born! He didn't cry when he came out or when they were cleaning him. He just looked around....after much harrassment from the nursing staff we got this pic of him using his lungs. Sorry its upside down...I don't know how to fix that....

This is him just 2 hours old laying with me in bed. He looks angelic with the lighting because it was snowing outside and it made a soft glow.