Miss Jillian opening a present....or four. Thanks Nana for my camo outfit!!
Its a pink furry phone! :) Thanks Nanny!!
Aunt Allie and Jillian playing with a new toy. Thanks Dave, Peg, Kelly and Derek!
On the eve of Christmas Eve, Jillian opened her present from the Burson's. What a gorgeous dress, how did you know? Thanks guys, we love it!
Miss Jillian loves pretzels, just like her Daddy! The front pocket on her overalls doubles as a snack carrier. :)
My sister Allison moved to Alaska this past April. She lived and worked on the Kenai over the summer and moved in with us in September. We have been having so much fun with her these past few months and we're so happy that she will be with us over Christmas! Jillian just loves her aunt...even if she doesn't look thrilled in the above photo. :) Allison will be moving to Chicago in January and we will all miss her!
Jillian likes to climb up and sit on the dining room table....this makes mommy and daddy very nervous! Especially since the table top is glass. Jeremy took this photo of Little Miss stuck mid-climb. Makes me grin every time...thought you might like it too! :)
Left to Right: Jillian, Jeremy, my sister Allison, Allison's friend Erika, Josh, Luke and Joy Burson. I didn't get a great angle with the camera, focusing on the 1/2 full serving dishes....next time I'll stand on a chair.
Turkey.....we love turkey! :) I should fix one more often! I'm so thankful that Allison was here this year, she is awesome in the kitchen!!!! I'm grateful for all her help! :) She recently purchased plane tickets leaving Alaska on January 15th...she is moving to Chicago. I am missing her already!
Jillian and Zachary reading books together. They did this all on their own, how cute! :)
Jillian and I dressed up as kitties this year. This was the first year for Jillian to dress up and we had fun! We're only sorry that Daddy is in Oklahoma and missed the big day! We went to Bell's (a local nursery) today and my sister Allison took our picture with what was left of their pumpkin patch. Thanks Allison!!! :)
Jillian didn't really like the pumkins and this was the only time she came close to touching one. :)
Yum Yum, an apple! Jillian decorated her own mask and pumpkin...with a little help from Mama. Jillian even got to pick a prize from a bucket filled with styrofoam marshmallows....actually, more styrofoam marshmallows made it into the goody bag than actual toys.
Nestled between Anchorage and Denali is this overlook that has the absolute best view of the mountain. On the drive home we scored a pretty decent view of Mt. McKinley, other than the little cloud cover, the mountain was visible and beautiful.
Here we are in front of the pipeline. The 800 mile Trans Alaska Pipeline System carries oil from Prudhoe Bay (northern AK) to Valdez (southern AK) and is easily viewed in Fairbanks.
Before moving to Anchorage, we lived in North Pole for almost 4 years. Our apartment was just down the street from the Santa Claus House. Santa is normally in the shop every day to take pictures with the kids....just our luck, he was on vacation the weekend we visited. The sign said he was getting ready for Christmas. :) So, we sat in his chair and took another family picture.
Santa's reindeer live outside and were very friendly. You may be able to tell that Jillian is signing "please" in this picture. She LOVED them and really wanted to touch and pet them. Daddy, can we please have a reindeer? Athena would love the company! :)
This bear was AWESOME!!!! Jeremy and I climbed up on the roof of the car and set the tripod up there. She was massive and beautiful and we were glad to be off the ground. She was foraging very close to the road and she drew in quite a large crowd of spectators. Everyone was standing around outside thier vehicle while this bear roamed well within the 50 yard park implemented limit. When she decided to cross the road, she walked in between the cars to do so and came within 3-5 feet of many of the people. I'm sure the park animals are very used to humans.....but still! All I could do was repeat, oh my god! Oh my god! I missed many good shots because I leaned in through the window to alert Jeremy.
I think this was the baby....on the way out we saw a baby and mama moose eating alongside the road. When they crossed the road Jeremy got some really great shots. :)
OK, most of the park road is great - BUT, there is a HORRIBLE section where the very narrow road is set between a mountain and a sheer drop-off, with several sharp curves thrown in for fun. I refused to let Jeremy stop for pictures until we reached a relatively safe section. This is nothing.
Dall Sheep. We scored when it came to animals this trip....in addition to the moose, bear, and dall sheep, we saw wolves and a red fox - oh and ptarmigan and squirrels woo hoo.
What a long day! Time for a nap! Jillian was a trooper through the whole day. We took plenty of breaks and had lots of snacks to munch on. She took 2 naps in the car. She was to ready to get out and run around that night!
In the lobby of the Denali lodge is this statue of Balto. Jillian loved him, she hugged and petted him. I thought he was just a statue of any old mushing dog until Jeremy said I should write the story of Balto. I said, why? Who is Balto? I had to look the story up on the internet to remind myself of the great mushing dog who led his team the last 53 miles to Nome in January 1925 carrying the serum to end the diphtheria epidemic. They called it the "Great Race of Mercy". And, after looking close, I can see the name "Balto" engraved at the bottom of the statue.
Thursday night we stayed in Cooper Landing and hiked down to the Kenai river. We found this sign on the river, advertising the Lodge for everyone driving along the highway on the opposite bank. My sister Allison worked at the lodge all summer at the tour desk and I think she had a blast.
This is the view off the deck that ran along the back side of the lodge. Can you imagine seeing this everyday? Its so beautiful and the river water is this gorgeous green color. The lodge is practically in the middle of nowhere - an hour's drive from the closest hospital/doctor. We're so glad we had the opportunity to stay and experience a little bit of the Kenai. Thanks Allison! :)
This past weekend we planned a major road trip: 5 days, over 1000 miles and 24 total hours of driving. We must be nuts. It all started when we received news last month that we won the Denali road trip lottery. Every year the Denali National Park holds a lottery, for a fee anyone can enter, they pick 400 people to drive their own private vehicle into the park. 100 people per day, over 4 days. You can go as far back into the park as you like, even farther than the park sponsored tours, stop whenever you want and for as long as you want. Its pretty cool....this was our 4th visit to the park (2 bus tours and our 2nd time driving in). So, about a month ago we learned that we won our first choice, Saturday - Yeah! 
We figured that with all the upcoming driving we should take Jillian in to the pediatrician's office on our way out of town. Our little girl is a tiny thing, she doesn't even weigh enough to make it on the chart for national averages. This means that at 18 months she was still rear-facing in the car seat. We fed her a HUGE breakfast before her weight check and prayed for 20 pounds. The resulting weight was just under, but he said that it was close enouth for us to flip the seat around. Sweet! Jillian really needed that, facing forward helped dramatically improve her attitude in the car. The weekend was still going to be long, but now it was going to be bearable.
We took about 280 pictures....the next few blogs will chronicle our trip.
I feel guilty. The last few journal posts have focused on Jillian's less than desirable behaviors, even if completely normal. I feel bad about this because many of Jillian's readers do not have the opportunity to see how lovely she is every other moment of the day. She is a happy girl who fills our home with love and laughter.
As I write this Jeremy is in Ninilchik, AK, on a halibut fishing charter. We're hoping he catches a big one! :) Being optimistic, we bought a freezer yesterday to hold his catch. I put Jillian in the freezer and she was cracking us up dancing and stomping all around. We had to capture the moment.
Here is Jillian blowing kisses to her parents.
Here is Miss Jillian at the Pre Show and Shine car show at McDonald's a few weekends ago. Our friends, Tina and Bob, stopped by to say Hi and took this picture of our baby. Thanks guys!! :)
We went to 2 car shows last weekend. On Sunday, this nap came out of nowhere! One minute Jillian was having a fun time watching all the festivities and the next she was konked out. I promptly took her home where she (thankfully) finished her nap. Jeremy stayed to visit a little longer.
Jillian sleeps with the same blanket every night, it has become her favorite. She carries this blanket all around the house and sniffs the fleecy material. Its pretty cute. The blanket stays at home and there is no need to bring it on errands - thank God for small favors. I do like to bring the blanket on the long car trip to and from Cooper Landing (2 hours one way) when we go down to pick up my sister Allison. Car rides are not a favorite, but the blanket helps in a small way. I'm hoping her new car seat will help in a big way! She is still in her infant seat, but we ordered the new one and it should be in tomorrow. And Jillian is almost 20 pounds, once we hit that mark, we can turn her around facing front! Yeah! 
Miss Jillian is starting to be a bit defiant! Her new favorite cookies are raspberry fig newtons, yummy! Not too long ago, Jillian was eating a yummy newton and Jeremy started snacking on tortilla chips and salsa. Another snack favorite. Jeremy told Jillian she needed to finish the cookie before eating chips. So, she threw the cookie down on the floor. I don't remember what Jeremy said then - something like, you should not have done that. So, Jillian stomped and ground the cookie into the carpet. We were astounded, I can't remember our reactions and I can only hope that we didn't laugh. She catches us off guard with these curve balls - we wonder, did she intentionally stomp that cookie?
Jillian is having a rough time with her teeth right now. She only has 4, 2 on top and 2 on bottom. Her teeth have been slow coming in. Right now she has 2 on top working their way in, plus a molar and 6 more swollen bumps. We also think she is growing. All she does is sleep and eat. Poor baby! :)
There is a new game in the Withrow home: feed Athena as many cookies (dog bones) as possible. Jillian has discovered where the dog biscuits are kept and is having fun spoiling Athena - and Athena thinks this is pretty cool. Athena is gentle and always takes the bone nicely from Jillian, and everyone else for that matter. (Unless she is trying to steal food - like that chicken wing! - then she gets a little excited!) In the beginning Jillian would give the bone to Athena and then try to take it back mid-chomp. Athena has learned to eat quickly! And Jillian is learning to leave Athena alone. Now, Jillian has figured out that if she takes the dog bone and runs around the house, Athena will chase her. Great fun! Especially because Athena normally gives Jillian a wide berth. We think this is Jillian's way of forcing Athena to play.
