Miranda - smile!

So we have this new game at our house lately. We like to ask Miranda to smile and occasionally she will give us a cheesy grin that shows all her teeth. My mom caught the sequence in action today so I thought I would share.

Miranda -- SMILE!

First you see this....

Then this...

And then the grand finale! I love baby teeth!

And yes, she scruches up her nose and eyes the same EVERY TIME!!! I LOVE IT!

Perfectly Beautiful!

This picture is bad but that's only because there was SO MUCH SUN!!!

We went to Lagoon this past weekend. We left Saturday morning and came home Saturday night. A quick trip but so fun! It started off not so good because Tarek got sick in the car on the way down. We wondered if we should continue but we couldn't face breaking the other kids hearts. Tarek seemed fine and unfazed by the illness so we kept going. We arrived around 11:30 and hit the rides right away. The lines were pretty much non-existent until around 3:00 or so and then we had to wait a little bit. We had to wait about 10 minutes to go on The Spider and about 15 minutes to go on Wicked. For those of you that don't know - that is not bad at all! Kaydra, Kalli, and Kanyon could go on a lot of the big rides so we split up after lunch and let them ride some scary rides. Tarek and Courtney ran into Spence and Ange (Spencer is my cousin and Angela is his wife!) and their family in the kiddie section so Tarek and Lincoln had a good time riding together for a little while. It was good to see them - I wish we would have coordinated it better. I feel bad that we didn't make more of an effort to contact them - I sent an email but they didn't get it - Sorry! It was still fun to run into you there! We managed to get Miranda on a couple of rides and she seemed to like it. She looked terrified but when you caught her eye she would scream with excitement. She love the car ride with Kaydra. She loved the steering wheel. I got a picture of that - isn't she cute! The weather was absolutely perfect. It was about 60 degrees and we wore shorts and t-shirts. We didn't even take jackets into the park. SO PRETTY! I love Lagoon in April.

In other news I spent three hours in the Emergency room with Miranda last night. It was awful. She was having trouble breathing and it got worse as the night went on. She was really working to breathe and I couldn't help her settle down to go to sleep. She was so restless and really concentrating on her breathing. She was pretty wheezy too. Sometimes it's tough to be a nurse and a mom. I always think of the worst case scenario. Anyway, she has a slight ear infection that they recommended we wait and see for a couple of days before we start antibiotics but they gave me a prescription for one just in case (very nice) and she also has Bronchitis - probably viral. She was given a breathing treatment and a prescription to do treatments as needed at home and also an oral steroid to help her breathe. Today she is 100% better. She is still obviously sick but she can concentrate on other things besides breathing. She hates the breathing treatments and it is tough to get her to sit still for one but they seem to help her a lot. Her fever is much better today as well. Hopefully, she is on the mend!

One more piece of information is that I was released from my calling in the primary yesterday. I am sad and grateful at the same time. I love all those kids. They are so fun to teach and to learn from but I feel that I am not helping much anymore because my thoughts are more driven around our move to Coeur d'Alene. I am sure there is a calling for me there too!

Our Lucky Day

A couple days ago we went to an auction/dinner fundraiser for Jackson's baseball team. It was catered by Texas Roadhouse and it was yummy! They had a silent and live auction as well as raffle ticket prizes. Kaydra really wanted a basket filled with candy, popcorn, and two movies - "Bedtime Stories" and "Surf's Up" - that was part of the silent auction. I bid on it but then someone outbid me by one dollar. She really wanted it so I put her name down with another bid. She guarded that thing all night, hoping that no one else would write down a higher bid. Finally the table closed and we "won" the basket. The kids were so excited. They were jumping up and down saying "we won!" Kanyon got me laughing when he said, "We have never won anything before - this must be our lucky day!"

For the record, I also tried to win 4 seats to the Seattle Mariners vs Cleveland Indians baseball game in July. They were right on the first base line. I bid $80 and they went at the very last minute for $85. I guess I should have been guarding them too! Oh well.

Easter Ducks!

Happy Easter Everyone! We had a pretty good day today. The kids had a good morning searching for their Easter baskets. The Easter bunny hid them very well this morning and we had to help them find them. They all got new summer outfits and way too much candy. Last night I gave them all new things to wear to church. The girls both got dresses and Kanyon got a new tie to wear. They looked very cute all together. I even got Miranda to smile! Love the happy kids!

I also have some pictures of last Sunday when my parents took the kids to the river to feed the ducks. I grew up doing this and it is fun to see the kids continue the traditions. Kanyon, of course, looks perfectly at home laying next to the river. He's probably wishing he could go swim with the fish!

Oh yes I did!

So I have been wanting to cut Miranda's hair for quite awhile. Leonard has been against it because he is afraid it will not look good and that she will look like a boy. Well he left so I made an appointment with a friend that cuts hair. I think Len was more worried that I would try to cut it myself then the actual hair cut. I am not that brave. Anyway, she did quite well. She wiggled but didn't cry or get upset. I think it's pretty cute and I think it will grow out so much better and prettier.

Here are some before shots: Look at that whispy messAll Done!Newly styled-my pretty girl!

This is not a good plan

Today while I was coming home from the grocery store after fighting with both Kanyon and Miranda during the trip (Miranda only wanted to be held - not in the shopping cart and she can scream really loud and Kanyon would whine every time I told him "no" to something that he wanted - which was a lot of things!) I decided I should try to have a talk with Kanyon.

Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Buddy, I really need you to help me out. With daddy gone I really need you to listen to me and not argue with me all the time.
Kanyon: It's Kaydra's job to help you.
Me: Yes, but I need your help too. Daddy's not here and so I need you to be big and help me like I know five-year-old's can.
Kanyon: You guys should have thought about it better. I don't like this plan - it's not a good plan.

He's right. It's not a good plan -- but it's an okay plan and the best that we could come up with. Things are actually going okay. The days are long but we all make it through in the end. We have done some fun things lately and I think that it will be better when things settle down a bit. I forgot to take pictures of dyeing Easter eggs - of course. And the next night we planted flower seeds and vegetable starts for my mom and sister and brothers' garden this spring. I forgot to take pictures of that, too. Then last night we (the girls and Jake - minus Miranda) went to a hair fashion show at the Civic Auditorium that Jana was modeling in. It was really fun. They played lots of music and had lots of really funky hair and make-up. Jana looked great - she looked like she could have been a runway model. Kaydra thought it was a lot of fun. I didn't take any pictures of that either. I know that I am slacking. We're just keeping it together!

Today I let the kids take Miranda for a walk around the block to our house to get the mail. They were gone a little while and then I could hear Kaydra and Miranda crying. I met them at the door. Kaydra was carrying Miranda and they were both crying. Miranda had a big bump on her head. Kaydra said that the stroller tipped over and Miranda hit her head on the street. Kaydra was fine but she was so worried about Miranda that she was crying too. Miranda is going to be okay but she will have a pretty good bruise to show for it in the morning. I did take a picture of this but the picture doesn't do it justice. Her bump was about the size of a golf ball and raised about 3/4 inch.
Poor girl. She seemed to be alright though. We'll watch her close. The kids felt really bad. Kanyon said, "I wish that wouldn't have happened." Another end to another day.

Sorry Lenny....

This post is going to make Leonard sad. Babe, I want you to know that we love you and that we miss you and we know that you miss us too. I just want to remember this day for later so I am sorry that it might make you sad. I love you!

Today was our first day with Len gone. He has been gone before, of course, but for some reason it is a bigger deal this time. The day started bad as the kids came to the bottom of the stairs yelling, "The toilet is exploding!" Yes, the toilet was overflowing (just liquid, thankfully) and, of course, they are too young to know how to turn off the water, so I was greeted by a large pool of water all over the bathroom floor. It took several towels to mop it up -- my Dad did most of it. Thanks Dad. After we got the mess cleaned up the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. The night started off with Miranda acting like she was ready for bed at about 6:30 pm. This was too early so I decided to stall her by giving her a bath. She loved it and was a happy little girl playing in the water -- and then she went #2 in the tub. YUCK! Dad wasn't home this time (just kidding, I would have cleaned it up even if he was!) so I cleaned and then disinfected the tub. I am pretty sure that Miranda still needs a bath!

When I was tucking the kids into bed they both came up to me after brushing their teeth and said they were sad that Dad was not here. Kanyon said, "We have never done this program before and we miss him!" I tried to comfort them for awhile and then Kanyon said, "It's just like we are not a family anymore." Breaks my heart! I explained to him that of course we are a family and that Len and I were married in the temple so we will be a family forever even if we can't always be together. Kanyon said, "Well, not me, I didn't go to the temple." I tried to explain it to him but apparently we need a family home evening about this. It was pretty sad. In the end, I promised them that we could talk to Len on the phone tomorrow and he seemed satisfied with that. We miss you Dad!

Tomorrow we plan a relaxing day of watching General Conference and dyeing Easter eggs so it will be a fun day. I'll try to remember to take pictures and post them. Have a great weekend.

Baby Steps

We are back in Idaho Falls living with my parents and finishing up school. Leonard is leaving for Coeur d'Alene later today so he can start his new job on Monday. We aren't sure when we will see him again - worst case scenario is two months, but hopefully we will be able to get together for short visits in between. Miranda decided to take a few steps for us today so that Leonard could see it before he left. She's so considerate that way! :) We have known for awhile that she could do it if she wanted to. Last night she took about seven steps which is the most I have ever seen her take. Today we had the video camera ready. We soon realized that she needs a little music to dance to and then she feels confident enough to take a few steps. It's pretty entertaining to watch. I love baby steps!