Kanyonisms

I am madly packing for our Spring Break trip to California but before I left I wanted to blog about a few things Kanyon has said lately so I don't forget after all the sun gets to me!

In Kindergarten they celebrate their 100th day of school. They usually have learned to count to 100 by then so they ask all the kids to bring 100 things to put in their "trail mix" for their snack that day -- 100 m&m, 100 raisins, 100 marshmallow, etc -- whatever you want. Kanyon came home and told me that he told his teacher that he wouldn't be able to bring 100 things because we are saving all our money for our log house. I wonder what else he tells his teacher?!

There is a bay we drive by every time we go to town called Cougar Bay. It is marshy and filled with grass. The ducks and geese love it. Kanyon asked me on the way by one time, "Why don't they cut that hay?" I told him it was on the water, that it was really wet and the tractor would sink. "He said, they could use a boat to cut it. You know, with a tractor thing on it."

A couple days ago we were driving in the truck with all the kids. Kanyon said, "I want to buy a yellow truck, a yellow Jeep, a yellow motorcycle, a yellow scooter, and a yellow car." Leonard said, "You're gonna need a lot of green to buy all that yellow." Kanyon said, "I need to be rich!" Then he said, "When I get big I am going to study rocks. Then I will know where to find the gold. When I find the gold I will sell it for 100 dollars and then I will buy all that stuff." We laughed, but he is very serious about studying rocks. To him, it seems like the best job in the world!

That's all for now. I'm sure after our 20 hour drive (one way) I will have a few more! Wish us luck and hope to see some of you on our trip!

Another Birthday!

I celebrated my 32nd birthday last week. It seems like all I have posted about lately has been birthdays so that's why I am late in posting this. My birthday was pretty uneventful. I ordered a new bathtub for our new house about a week before so that was the BIG present. I am really excited about the tub. It has small air jets along the bottom that bubble like a champagne bottle. It was the ONE thing that I really wanted in our new house so I am really excited about it. They had a bath sale at Home Depot last month so I took the opportunity to purchase my tub -- it should arrive around March 15. I had to work on my birthday, as did Leonard, so we waited until Saturday to celebrate. I received several lovely gifts from family and I am very grateful. My father-in-law picked me up a bouquet of spring flowers that are so pretty and make me happy each morning. I love spring. I got some speakers for my ipod that Len got me for Valentine's day - which I love! and I got a lunch bag that looks like a cute handbag from Kay. It's so cute, and insulated. I also received some money which I am putting toward my new bathtub - so THANK YOU! Len took me to dinner that night with some friends while Kay and Neil watched the kids. We came home to find them all bathed and ready for bed and then church the next day. It was SO nice and probably the best birthday present! I love coming home to clean kids ready for bed!
As another bonus, on my birthday we found out that all the paperwork for our loan had been finalized and we were cleared to start using the funds. We sent a check that day for the deposit for the logs for our home!! I am so excited about this. We are putting the building permit stuff together this week. We are trying to work on it a little bit each day. I want it to be done with permit in hand! Yesterday I found all the forms and figured out the steps we needed to take. I also discovered that our plans have been engineered for a 40 lb per square foot snow load and they are supposed to be engineered for a 50lb per square foot snow load! That meant that I had to contact the engineer and they are working on fixing it. I should have noticed that earlier. We've had the engineered plans for about 5 months. I just never looked at them very close. We always looked at the architectural drawings. Anyway, hopefully it won't take too long to fix.
Today we worked on our site map to submit with the building permit. We had to measure everything in all directions to let them know where everything will be on the property. It was cold and windy today but still fun to plan the house. Len and I also went to a flooring place to look at wood floors. There are so many choices but I think I found one that I like. I just have to talk Len into it! :)
I will try to post more about the house as it goes. I think it may be boring to many of you but I want a record of how this event goes so you'll have to put up with a few boring posts right along with me!

Birthdays and Loans

Today is Kanyon's 6th birthday. We celebrated yesterday because Len and I both have to work tonight. Sad, I know. I wasn't thinking when I signed up to work. Anyway, we were all home yesterday evening so we had a little party and he opened presents. I told him it would be better this way because then he would be able to play with all his new toys ALL DAY today! He was excited and typical Kanyon. He couldn't stand still waiting for the party. He was jumping all over the place and then he had a big grin on his face the whole time. I can't believe he is six. Time sure flies. I put together a little movie of him opening presents. At the end they go on a treasure hunt to find his present from his dad. He was pretty excited about it. You will have to watch to see what it was. It's starting already!


He's a good kid and we are so glad he is part of our family.


I also want to wish my Grandma Parry and my Uncle David a happy birthday as well. What a celebration we could have in our family! My cousin Larkin wrote an awesome post about Grandma HERE on her blog and I just want to say ditto to that, except that I am pretty sure that I am the favorite grandchild! :) We love and miss you Grandma!


Plus, as an added bonus, we signed papers to close on our construction loan today. Everything is approved and we are ready to start. We plan on getting building permits this month so we can start in April. The weather is cooperating so far and it looks like we will be able to start digging soon! I can hardly wait! It will be a long summer but a great adventure to work on the house.


If that wasn't enough for one day -- this morning we were listening to the radio and they asked what color was associated with Tiffany's - the jewlery store. They wanted us to text it in. I knew it was blue so I texted it but I didn't put my name. They said they had the phone number and that I had won lunch at Paul Bunyon (a hamburger & milkshake place). Then they asked who is Dina in Alice in Wonderland. I knew that answer too but I had just won. We listened and waited and nobody called in to win. So they upped the prize and so I couldn't resist. I called and told them the answer (Dina is Alice's cat) and I won tickets to the Spokane Craft show this weekend - cool because we were already planning on going! -- AND $20 gift certificate to the Beachhouse - a nice place for dinner! I didn't know if they would let me claim both prizes so Leonard claimed the text prize and I claimed the tickets and gift certificate! Not bad for a short morning of work!


All in all it was a good day and Kanyon had a great day. I made cupcakes and Leonard took them to the school. The weather was sunny and about 55 degrees so we can't complain -- at least not today!!

Yesterday was a different story. Yesterday was the day Miranda learned to climb out of her crib. I know - terrible, huh! I am sure there will be more on that story later!