Uncle George's

This past weekend we went to my Great-Uncle George's cabin for the Lovell family reunion. My Grandmother was a Lovell and every year all of her brothers and sisters and all of their posterity get together. We have done this for as long as I can remember. We always loved to go to Uncle George's because it seemed like there was a new toy every year. He has a couple huge slides that go down the side of the hill, a water slide, and a couple of zip lines (one for kids and one for adults). There is also a barn to play in with a plastic slide attached to the side, a swing set, a trampoline and many games to play inside the house. We have a great time even though we don't know very many people there! I took the kids with my mom and dad this year. Len was sleeping because he had to work that night and he had also worked the previous night. They had a fabulous time. They loved the water slide and the zip line. All of us enjoyed the homemade rootbeer! There is almost nothing better! It seems to be a tradition that will carry on for awhile. This year they took some pictures. They took one of nearly everyone that was there but I don't have a copy of that yet. This picture is of my grandparents (first row on the left) and my grandmothers siblings and all of their children and spouses that were there. It is amazing the amount of people that are there that I am related to that I don't even know. And I know that there are many, many more that were not able to attend. It reminds me of the song, "All because two people fell in love!"

5 months

Today my baby is 5 months old. She is growing so fast! She is really starting to be a lot of fun to be around. I have always thought the best time to be around a baby is about 6-18 months. They are usually so happy! Miranda is getting into that phase. She still gets frustrated really easily but is starting to be able to play with things and keep herself entertained for short periods. She is rolling over in both directions and she can "tripod" sit (sort of) if someone is helping her. I love to see her try new things. I also love to watch her as she watches her brother and sister. She is enthralled by both of them. They both know how to make her stop crying and usually can get her to laugh as well. She has a great laugh. Her newest trick is to lay on her back and eat half her foot. She also tries to see more around her when she is laying on her back by lifting up her head and chest. It 's pretty funny. She is a joy to have in our home. We love the variety and the excitement she has brought with her. She still gets fussy and frustrated if she can't do something but she is easily calmed. Another funny thing is she loves to drink from cups, water bottles, juice bottles, ect. If I have a cup or the like in my hand she reaches and reaches until I let her have some. Today I gave her a juice bottle to play with and she was so mad that it wouldn't open for her. Of all my kids, she is the most interested in food. She wants to eat and try everything that we are having. I am trying to be good and wait until she is 6 months like my pediatrician recommended but I have to admit that she gets lots of "tastes". She is a good baby and we are so happy to have her in our home. We love you Miranda!

A little piece of Heaven

We love visting Coeur d'Alene. It is so beautiful there. My husband is much happier there. I think it's because there is always something to do. He spent much of the vacation building fence around the property. He says he feels like they got a lot accomplished and this makes him feel good! The hard work also helped him to get heated up and ready for the lake. It was still kinda cold but we were able to get used to it after awhile. Miranda didn't think getting used to it was a good idea. She would put her feet in but after trying to sit only once she decided she wouldn't do that again. Len was trying to make her sit again in the lake and she managed to keep her body super stiff so that she wouldn't bend at the waist. Pretty smart girl!

After our day at the library, we managed to talk the guys into babysitting the kids at the park so that Jodi and I could window shop down Sherman. It was fun playing tourists and we found a delicious chocolate shop that made the trip VERY worth it! Then we met up with everyone to eat lunch at The Olympia. A greek restaurant there downtown that is one of our favorites. Every time we visit Coeur d'Alene we have to go to The Olympia. It's yummy! That afternoon we took the kids to the beach while Jodi prepared for Dillon's birthday. He turned 2 while we were there and we had a little party. His favorite toy was definately his tractor from his Grandpa Throck. He carried it EVERYWHERE -- even to bed. It was pretty cute!

On Saturday the men worked on fence again and then we spent much of the day at the beach. The kids played and played. Kaydra and Cora snorkled. It was Kaydra's first time and she got the hang of it pretty good. She is a fish, just like her dad. They all had a great time at the beach.

Even Uncle Mike got in on the action!

Sunday we went to church and that evening we visited our friends, the Carpenters. They have a girl Kaydra's age and a boy Kanyon's age and so they had a fabulous time visiting and playing in their beautiful yard. The adults also enjoyed visiting and catching up with each other. Alethea made a delicious dessert that we enjoyed as well -- Thank you Carpenters!

On Monday we did more of the same. Played on the farm, built more fence, went to the beach. Took the kids to the chocolate store (never too much chocolate!), rode the four-wheeler ... perfect paradise. My kids think that Coeur d'Alene is the best place on earth and I have to say that I agree. Our goal is to someday build a house there. Hopefully sooner than later.

The ride home was pretty uneventful. It is always longer than the ride to Coeur d'Alene :) but we managed to wear the kids out pretty good during the week so they slept quite a bit. The thing about the drive home is that it is not very exciting for the last 3 hours or so. Just miles and miles of desert and fields. When we were at Roberts (only about 10 miles from home) the kids were begging to watch another movie. We told them we were almost home and they didn't believe it because it still looked like we were in the middle of nowhere. Pretty soon they were able to pick out the water tower and the temple and they finally believed us!

All in all we had a great trip. Thanks to Len's parents and to Jodi and Mike for putting up with us and keeping us entertained throughout our time there. We truly feel like we are a part of a little piece of heaven!

Trip to Coeur d'Alene

Well, we went to Coeur d'Alene this week to visit with Jodi and Mike before they head off to their new Post in California and to see Len's parents. It was a beautiful trip with only one really windy day. Otherwise it was the picture of beauty as Coeur d'Alene usually is. We had a great time there. We just got home today but I have a few pictures that I wanted to post today and then I will post more later. One of the first days we were there, Jodi and I took the kids to the library for a "special visitor". It ended up being an Entomologist and she had LIVE bugs! She talked to all the kids about her job and went into pretty good detail about the bark beetle which is killing many forests on this side of the country. Little did she know that she was talking to a group of future tree farmers! They were facinated by the "hissing cockroaches" that she let them touch and hold and they spent the rest of the trip looking for the "signs" she had told us about from the bark beetle. Everytime Kanyon sees a red pine tree he now says, "I think bark beetles killed that tree!" I guess that kids really do listen sometimes. :)

I think this is Kaydra touching the cockroach while the entomologists holds it.

This is Jodi's son Dillon touching the cockroach Cora

wouldn't touch it.

Here is Kanyon holding the cockroach with Emily touching it

-- look how happy he is holding a BUG!

Here is Kanyon holding the bug again.

The 4th of July

We had a great day yesterday for the 4th of July! I am so proud to be an AMERICAN! I love it here with all the freedom we enjoy and I am thankful to those who have served and do serve to protect us! THANK YOU! I was actually supposed to work but I got put on call so I was able to participate in all the festivities. The day started with a parade. It was VERY HOT! Everyone was perspiring greatly. Thankfully we had plenty of cold water thanks to Steve and Sharon! We then went to a BBQ at Steve and Sharon's house - it was delish! I took my kids home after that and we all took a nap to prepare for the long night ahead. After dinner we went to the river to enjoy the fireworks. The kids were good. Len had to miss the whole day because of work and sleep and we missed him greatly. It took us about 20 minutes to get home which isn't too bad considering the traffic after that event. I have to admit that I did go the wrong way down a one way street for about two blocks to help in my effort to escape. We had a great time though and the kids all went right to sleep when we got home! Can't beat that! Here are some random pictures from the day.

Fourth of July outfits

Enjoying the Parade in the HOT weather

Miranda enjoying the parade by taking a nap in the shade

Bunce Reunion

Last weekend we went to Lava Hot Spings for the Bunce Family Reunion. This is Leonard's mom's side of the family. They all get together every other year in June and this year it was at Lava. We had a great time. We arrived Friday evening and visited with family and met those that we didn't know :) Saturday morning we ate breakfast together and then a few of the families (including us) went to the pool. They have some great facilities there! The kids LOVED it. Even Miranda enjoyed the pool as it was, of course, warm from the hot springs. I haven't been there since I was little and they have really done some great improvements. They have two huge water slides that my kids loved! The first time, Leonard had to "help" Kanyon go down with a little push from the top of the slide. He was very nervous (read scared) to go down by himself but they don't let you ride together. I was waiting for him at the bottom and he was all smiles by the time he reached me. He immediately wanted to do it again! The slides are great because they just end in a long slide with only about 12 inches of water so the kids were just fine without life jackets.
Around 2:00 we left the pool and went to lunch with the reunion and then we floated the Portneuf River. Just adults went first and after that ride we decided that the kids weren't really old enough to go so Len took them each on much shorter rides down a calm section of the river so that they could say they went. They both loved it. After that the kids got in a hot pool that was near the convention center where the reunion was being held and then we headed back to the big pools and slide for a couple of hours. We went back to the convention center for a light dinner around 6:00 pm and then an ice cream social. It was a very busy day -- but it wasn't over yet!

After the social we headed back to our motel. It was not the best place we have ever stayed but we weren't there very much so it was okay. The kids were really tired. We put them in their pajamas and Kaydra and Miranda immediately fell asleep. Kanyon wasn't quite ready (he was the only one to get a nap earlier that day) so we turned on the baby monitor and went next door to visit with Len's parents and brother. We were there about thirty minutes or so and Miranda started to cry. I got up to go back in the room and get her but the door wouldn't unlock!

Everyone tried to unlock it to no avail. The baby was just crying inside. I tried to wake up Kaydra to try to open the door from the inside but she wouldn't wake up -- even with the baby screaming and mom and dad yelling her name through the window! She was REALLY tired!
Len decided to take things into his own hands and moved the air conditioner over in the window and crawled into the room. He broke the plexi-glass that was helping to hold the air conditioner in place but was able to hand Miranda out the window.
The plexi-glass was screwed to the top of the window and the air conditioner was screwed to the bottom but it would slide over. Somehow Len managed to fit through this window when the air conditioner was over to the right as far as it would go. The opening was only about 12 inches square!

Once he was inside he still couldn't open the door. It had become disconected inside the knob. Kay, Len's mom, went into the office to get the manager of the hotel and she was unable to get it open as well. They had to call a locksmith to come and fix the knob. All in all it was much too much excitement for me after such a busy day! I hate the feeling of not being able to get to my kids! If I choose to let them cry it's one thing... It's completely different if I can't help them at all! Everything eventually got fixed and we were able to go to sleep.

The next morning we had breakfast at the convention center and then we packed up to go home. While eating breakfast I put Miranda in the stroller and all the little girls at the reunion pushed her around all over the place. She was quite entertained and I should have brought out the stroller much earlier in the reunion! It was a fun weekend and I would like to take the kids back to Lava again as it was really a lot of fun.

We are thankful for birds...

I have been thinking about posting this story that was shared with me for awhile, but I just haven't had time. It is something that tells you about my kids and our family and it's something that I want to remember. Hopefully Tammi will add anything to the story that I missed.

In primary one Sunday, near the beginning of April, they were talking about birds during sharing time. The teacher asked the kids to name some of the birds that they have seen. The kids started shouting out expected answers like robin, blue bird, dove, ect. Then my two children shouted out "GROSBEAK!" My understanding is that the teacher was stunned and not too sure what to say. I think she said something like, "I have never heard of a grosbeak before". My cousin Tammi, who is a teacher in the primary said, "If Kaydra and Kanyon say it's a bird then it probably is."

Here is the infamous grosbeak which we were able to see many times in Coeur d'Alene the week before this experience happened. The nature loving attitude of my children comes from their dad and his parents who are always teaching them to enjoy nature and look out for interesting animals in the outdoors. For this I am grateful!

Four months old!

Miranda is now four months old. She is growing so fast! I took her to the doctor for her check-up and vaccinations. There was a newborn sitting next to us and I am just shocked at how little he looked. I still think she is pretty small but compared to this baby, she looked huge!

She is now: Weight: 14lbs 41/2 oz (between 50-70% for her age)

Height: 26 1/2 inches long (over 95% for her age)

She, like my other children, is very tall for her age.

She is a happy baby for the most part. She loves to be talked to and played with. She still doesn't like to be alone and she loves it when her brother and sister play with her. We were at the playground the other day and Miranda was showing her obvious distaste for her car seat. This is pretty normal for her as she does NOT like her car seat. I thought it was funny so I videoed her on my cell phone. The quality isn't great but it is funny to see her struggle to get out! She is a good girl and we are loving having her in our home. I am so blessed to have three great kids!

We got a package in the mail from Jodi and Mike yesterday full of Korea surprises. THANK YOU! The kids were SO excited to wear their pajamas and Kanyon is sure that he is a karate-choppin' kung fu man in his! I had to take pictures and even managed to get one of all of them smiling! They look so cute!

We have been staying busy with work and t-ball games. We are finally enjoying nice weather here and my garden is starting to grow really well. I think we lost one watermelon plant and a squirrel dug up some of my cucumber seeds but other than that it is doing well. And we are officially going to have peaches on our tree! I am really excited about that! Well, that's about all for now.

They're all fixed!

Disclaimer: This entry is kind of long but for journaling purposes I have decided to tell the whole story. Skip whatever parts you don't want to read -- or skip the whole thing if you want!

For those of you wondering, Kanyon has had his teeth fixed! We took him back to the dentist in May with the same ending. He cooperated quite well until they started "pinching his cheek". The dentist said he gave him all the anesthetic that he could have and he still wasn't absolutely sure that Kanyon was totally numb. He said that the nerve that he was trying to block can be in a different place with kids but that he usually doesn't have this problem. He also, very politely, said that even if he was sure that Kanyon was numb, he wasn't sure that Kanyon would really let him work on his teeth. He said that he was willing to let us try again and bring him back another time. Len and I talked about it and we decided that it would be very difficult to talk Kanyon back into the dentist's office again to "fix his teeth" and that we would like to just take care of every thing at once and try to "forget" about the dentist for the next four months. So we called the insurance company and then we set up an appointment to take Kanyon to day surgery at the hospital for general anesthesia.

On June 12 I woke up at 5:00 am and showered and got things gathered together for the day. Len woke Kanyon up at 5:45 and gave him a blessing. We put him in the car with his blanket and still in his pjs and I took him to the hospital for our 6:00 am appointment. We hadn't told him that it was going to be that day -- we didn't want him to worry about it. It was a little sad when Kanyon asked his dad, "Are we going to Lagoon?" I explained everything to him in the car on the way to the hospital and he was okay with it. He wanted to get his teeth fixed and he liked the idea of going to sleep and then waking up and having it all done. He was a happy and good kid while we did all the checking in. He loved getting weighed and measured for height. He loved the bed with wheels and the fact that they gave him the remote for the television while we were in the pre-op room. He also loved the "hospital clothes" that they gave him to wear. After we were ready we watched television for a little bit and then they took us to the "holding" room. Here they gave us a book to read (Walter the Farting Dog) which Kanyon liked and we looked at the light above us which had a cover over it so it looked like a fish aquarium. We were there about a half an hour and then the anesthesiologist and the nurse were ready to take him. I had explained what they would do and Kanyon was good about going with them. I told him I loved him and that I would see him when he woke up and he said "Bye" and they wheeled him away. I told Len later that it was a good thing that he wasn't having a "real" surgery or I would have been a nervous wreck. I think he thought I was a nervous wreck anyway! It is REALLY hard sending your child away with strangers who are going to put him to sleep!

Kanyon had about 1 1/2 hours worth of dental work so about 2 hours later they called the waiting room and said I could meet him in the day surgery room. I went to the room and about 2 minutes later they brought Kanyon in. The recovery nurse was a guy from our ward so that was nice. Kanyon was awake but visibly upset and "whimpering" until he saw me and then he started crying. The nurse said he had been great and that he must think that it's okay to cry now that he sees me. The first thing he said to me was, "They gave me an owie!", as he lifted up his hand where his IV was. I hadn't told him that they would be doing that because I didn't want to worry him. They didn't start the IV until he had been put to sleep with gas but he was not happy about it! It seemed to bother him more than his mouth. We stayed there for about 30-45 minutes. Kanyon was able to drink some apple juice and suck on some ice and tolerated everything very well so they took out his IV. Every time he looked at the band aid though, he would start to cry again. It was pretty sad! They let him ride out of the hospital in a wagon and they sent us on our way. He did end up with two silver caps on the back two bottom teeth. They worked on a total of six teeth. In the end, this was definitely the better way to go.

He had a rough day the rest of the day. We picked up a couple of movies and made a bed for him on the couch and he hung out there most the day. After the hospital, I took him to the store to pick out some juice and to chose a movie. He did well walking around but as soon as we got into the house he said, "I need to throw up" and he lost all of the fluid that he'd had at the hospital. He sipped on some more juice while he watched a movie and then fell asleep. He breathed with his mouth open though, so when he woke up, his throat was hurting quite a lot. I finally got him to settle down with some motrin and a Popsicle. By the evening though, he was back to his normal playful self. He ate a full dinner and played outside with Kaydra. He is now very proud of his "different" teeth and will show anyone who asks and even some who don't! Hopefully we can take better care of the rest of his teeth though so we won't have to go through anything like that again!

She likes it!

Today I was trying a new recipe for dinner and Miranda was feeling neglected. She was fussing so I put her in her car seat on the counter to watch me while I cooked. That only lasted a few minutes so I handed her a piece of licorice. For the record, it was very tough and even I had trouble chewing it, so I wasn't worried that she would break off a piece and choke. She loved it! I know that it is probably not the best thing to give a growing baby, but the 30 minutes it gave me to finish dinner was totally worth it. Of course, she got a bath after these pics were taken so it actually added to my work -- but still worth it! Besides, she was SO happy and who am I to deny her that?!

Plant a Garden .... Check!

Planting a garden this year has been on my to do list. We finally got it all done last week. The garden looks better this year than it has since they year we built the beds. We borrowed our neighbors rotatiller and the beds were SO easy to plant! It was actually fun! We planted peas, corn, pumpkin, watermellon (we like to dream big!), cucumbers, radish, carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes. We also have raspberries and strawberries flowering and our apricot tree has apricots on it for the first time while we have lived here! We are pretty sure that we are going to get some peaches again as well as long as it doesn't freeze at night in the next week or so. I love fresh peaches so I hope that they grow! We also have a pie cherry tree, three plum trees, and an apple tree that should produce as well. I love this yard when it is taken care of -- it is just so much work. I am really going to try to stay on top of it this year. So here are some before pictures with the seeds newly planted. Not too exciting I know, but it will be a good comparison picture for later in the year.The tomato plants are in the background with fresh grass clippings on them. Again I wish the weather would warm up so that the seeds would brave the air. I think they are going to stay underground for quite awhile this year. I am sure that I will soon be complaining that it is too hot -- but at least that would be normal!

Another exciting thing is that we found some robins building a nest right off our deck in a tree in our back yard. I thought that the nest was looking pretty good and then the next day we went out and they had gone to town with the nest building it REALLY tall. Almost like they are trying to show off for their robin friends! I had to take a picture. We will keep you updated on the activity of the nest as it goes. Well, that's about all for now. The weather is actually almost warm today so I am going to work on the flowerbeds in the front yard. I only have two more to edge and weed and then we can plant some flowers. I have told myself that all the beds must be edged before I buy flowers or I would give up and not finish. It's a lot of edging but someone has to do it!

T-ball season

Today was Kaydra's second t-ball game. They played one and then the second one got rained out so today was the second one instead. We woke up to a sunny morning with a cold breeze and unfortunately an 8:30 am game. I am sure the afternoon games will be very pleasant but we were wrapped in blankets while we watched. The girls didn't seem to mind. They are sponsored by Jake's store Scoot n'Powersports. It is fun to see how much they have improved since playing for the first time last year. They are starting to understand how the game works. This league is really low key. Everyone gets to bat every inning no matter how many outs. They seem to have a great time. I sure wish the weather would warm up. A couple of days ago the weatherman on the news said, "Look for pleasant temperatures tomorrow, we will be warming up to the mid to high 50's." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Who's idea of pleasant is that for June? I think a day in the mid 70's would be great! Oh well, maybe next week!

Lagoon!

Yesterday was the annual family reunion for all my mom's side of the familiy at Lagoon so we took the kids there again for some fun. I think that it was colder than it was in April when we were there. This summer has sure not been very warm yet. It was overcast most of the day. The evening was near perfect though with no wind and the sun shining through the clouds for a few moments at a time. This was when we decided to challenge the water rides for the day. We went on the log ride, followed by Rattlesnake Rapids. The water was much higher than when we were there in April and we all got drenched. We came prepared with extra clothes for everyone though so we thought we would take the opportunity of already being wet and let the kids run through the fountain near the entrance of the park. It was great fun watching the kids run and try to anticipate where the water would come up next. Unlike the ice cold water on the rapids ride, the fountain water was luke warm and so the kids enjoyed it for about three minutes. It was not really warm enough outside for soaking wet clothes however, and there were a few tears shed before we were warm again in pants and sweatshirts to finish out the day. All in all it was a great day. It was good to see family there and we missed all that couldn't be there. It was a rather small group this year compared to past years, but we still had a great time. Kaydra and Kalli are now tall enough to ride on a few of the big rides so they enjoyed that. Their favorite ride was Wild Mouse and they went on that twice. We had to talk Terek on to a lot of rides - he was especially unhappy about getting wet on Rattlesnake Rapids - but he liked the little kids Tiki Boat which is like a small version of the Tidal Wave. I even got a cute pic of him holding his hands high in the air. We had fun but are still recovering today as we didn't get into bed at home until about 2:00am. Miranda tolerated the day very well and was held by many relatives. All in all, it was a well spent day!

What did I do today?

I found this poem on a message board and thought that it was worth sharing. Sometimes we need reminded about the important things!

What Did I Do Today?

------------------------

Today I left some dishes dirty,

The bed got made around 3:30.

The diapers soaked a little longer,

The odor grew a little stronger.

The crumbs I spilled the day before

Are staring at me from the floor.

The fingerprints there on the wall

Will likely be there still next fall.

The dirty streaks on those windowpanes

Will still be there next time it rains.

Shame on you, you sit and say,

Just what did you do today?

-----------------------------------------------

I held my baby till she slept,

I held my baby while she wept.

I played a game of hide and seek,

I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.

I pulled a wagon, sang a song,

Taught a child right from wrong.

What did I do this whole day through?

Not much that shows, I guess that's true.

Unless you think that what I've done,

Might be important to someone

With deep blue eyes and soft blonde hair,

If that is true...I've done my share.

All about me

This idea came from my cousin Lisa's blog. You answer questions here and then come up with a set of pictures that describe you. This is me...
I especially love the cute baby picture in the middle of the girl with strawberries on her hat. I got that picture because my favorite dessert is strawberry shortcake. And, can you tell that I would love to go on an island vacation um....NOW! :) It seemed that lots of my choices had that theme to them! It was fun! Try it out.

Three month photos

As I posted yesterday, Miranda is three months old. I took a few pictures today and thought I would post them because the ones I posted yesterday were not very good of her face. She is growing so fast and starting to add some pudginess on to her legs (finally!) I love baby legs! Leonard is convinced that she still looks like my brother Paul and I get at least one comment a week at church that she looks like my dad. I think she is beautiful. Her eyes are still fooling us. One day they look green, another brown, and another day, blue. Who knows -- Leonard says hazel -- we'll see.