Merry Christmas!

We were able to put up and decorate the tree this past week! I have my Christmas cards almost ready to go! It is finally feeling like Christmas - except there's no snow! Len found a beautiful tree that he cut down in the woods. It smells so good and it is so pretty. We wondered if we would be able to fit it into the living room but we moved stuff around and it looks great! We decorated it for Family Night last week. Even Miranda got into it and did quite well. She also (surprisingly) leaves it alone for the most part! The kids are now out of school and we are going to the North Pole tonight on a cruise! Lake Coeur d'Alene is where the boat will be and they take us around the lake to look at all the awesome lights and then across the lake to a place that they call the North Pole (it's not the real North Pole, is it? -- Kanyon asks me almost every day!) where Santa and Mrs Claus are waiting to call out the kids names and say hello! It's great and we are excited to go! Maybe some pictures tomorrow! In the mean time here are several pictures from our tree decorating this past week!

For Kelly

Uncle Kelly has a tradition at Grandma's house. When he finishes his supper he leans back and tosses his napkin into one of several baskets that she has hanging on the beam that goes across the kitchen. Since we moved here my kids think this is a good tradition to continue. We have had to limit the attempts to one. If you don't get it in on the first try, you have to throw the napkin away in the garbage until you can try again at the next dinner. The kids think its great and have actually made it in a time or two.
Miranda has had a difficult time lately because she knows what she wants but we don't always know what that is. She cries and yells until we figure it out and then she cries some more if it's something we won't let her do. There's a lot of yelling going on here lately! Yesterday, after dinner she was standing by the sink, reaching up, crying and yelling. We offered her a spoon, her cup, a washcloth, and several other objects, all to which she screamed "NO!" Finally, her dad said, "I think she wants this," and handed her a crumpled up napkin. That's right -- she immediately stopped yelling, turned around and tossed it into the air, aiming for the baskets. I have to say, we were all quite stunned. Who would have thought a little girl could pay so much attention to things going on around her. I think she's pretty amazing --- and loud!

Ice Skating

It has been so cold here the past couple of weeks. Last week Leonard went out to check the pond and declared it safe to skate on. We found some skates in Grandma's basement to fit each kid and bundled them up and sent them out the door - we went too, of course. Miranda just went in her new boots. We (and by that, I mean Leonard) had to shovel the snow off first. They had a great time and I'm sure they will try again soon. The pond is just the right size and the ice is just about perfect right now. We are expecting rain and snow this weekend so it may not be as good next time we skate, but it was just right to learn on. I learned that I can't remember how to ice skate and that I'm not good at all. Kanyon seemed to have a pretty good grasp of it by the end and Kaydra started out great but her ankles were giving out easily as she got tired. She must have inherited her mother's weak ankles! It's fun to have an activity that the kids can do so close to home - If only Harley (the horse) would leave us alone when we were skating! He tried to step out on the pond while we were out there and almost fell. As soon as we step off the ice, he is right there in our face. Crazy horse! This post is really rambling - I think I better stop and put in some pictures!

Pictures

So tonight we were sitting in the living room and Miranda picked up a Book of Mormon and started acting like she was reading it. It was so cute I had to take a picture. Then the kids went crazy for the camera -- so I thought I would share a few pictures. Enjoy!

Kanyonism

Kanyon has been trying our patience a lot lately. He wants to know why he has to do anything (get dressed, brush your teeth, put your stuff away) and it has to be a reason that he thinks is a good one or else he refuses. However, he somehow always manages to tickle my funny bone. Today when I dropped him off at the bus stop for school we were early and the bus wasn't there yet. I had some jelly beans in the car so we shared a couple while we waited. When the bus arrived I said, "Did you eat all your jelly beans?" He said yes, but I knew that he hadn't. I said show me your pockets. He said "You're right, I didn't." (they aren't allowed to have food on the bus) I told him to show me what he had. He pulled out four jelly beans, a rock, a bead, a hat, a little rubber stamp and a ziploc bag full of water.

"What's this for?" I asked about the bag of water.

He said, "It's a bag of ice in case I get hurt on the playground and I need to use it to make me feel better!"

I told him next time he got hurt, he could ask for a new bag of ice.

The Tamarack

One thing I love about North Idaho is the trees. They are everywhere. They cover the mountainside with a blanket of deep green. It's beautiful. However, in the fall something even more spectacular happens. The Tamaracks change color. Tamarack trees sort of look like evergreens but in the fall their needles turn yellow and fall to the ground. I had no idea they existed until I met my husband and he explained them to me. It makes for some spectacular views and I think it is one of my favorite things about fall in North Idaho.

This picture doesn't begin to do it justice. Just know that the gold colors are breathtaking!

Halloween

We've been keeping pretty busy lately with all the school activities and work. I only work once or twice a week but somehow it seems like I am always working. Weird. I was floated to the ICU a couple days ago because they have 12 patients and 11 of them are on vents so they needed people that knew how to take care of vents. I haven't taken care of any since we lived in Twin Falls so I was a little nervous but I found that it was like riding a bike and it came back to me very quickly. I also remembered why I liked the ICU. Two patients all night long was really nice compared to the four or five I usually take care of on the tele floor. Maybe I will have to think about changing departments? For now I'll stay where I am. Anyway, it was kinda fun but it made me miss all those good times at Magic Valley - miss you guys!

We have managed to find a little time to get ready for Halloween. We had a night of pumpkin carving. The kids did really well this year and managed to do most of the carving themselves. They seemed happy with the results. Kaydra had to make a pumpkin look like a book character for a school project and she chose Violet from "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I'm not sure it really looks like her but we had a good time putting it together anyway. I made "dinner in a pumpkin" one night with the recipe the Courtney's mother-in-law uses which the kids really liked. Kay was quite surprised to come home and find me packing a pumpkin with dinner. I think she liked it too! All-in-all, we are about pumpkined out!

We had a successful Halloween as evidenced by all the candy we have roaming about the house. The trick now is to keep Miranda out of all the treats! The kids were able to try out their costumes several times as they attended two church activities, a school party, the grange dance, and trick or treating. At least they got some good use. I made all the costumes this year. We already had Miranda's clown costume (Kaydra wore it as a baby)and Kaydra and Kanyon got their ideas for costumes from a magazine that Grandma brought home from work. If you can't tell, Kaydra is a Jellyfish. She got lots of compliments and even won "most creative" costume at the Plummer Branch Halloween carnival. Kanyon is a bat (obviously) and yes, his wings are made from an umbrella which I found at the dollar store. I think they turned out pretty darn good! The kids had a great time. We went to a friend's neighborhood to trick-or-treat because there aren't many houses to go to where we live. They only stayed out about an hour and were ready to leave because they wanted to go to the grange dance. We square danced and waltzed and continued to sing "Oh Johnny" through out the next day. We all had a good time. Miranda won the costume contest at the dance - she didn't seem too phased by it though! We hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!

Our Road

We have a new road to our future house! I know it's not very exciting to many of you but to us it shows some progress! We got a great deal on some rock and a pretty good deal on some trucks and equipment so we decided to go ahead and build a good road. It is a good road and should last as long as the house stands, if not longer. The road had to be about 450 feet. That's how far off the county road our house will be. Plus we are putting in a parking area that will come off our garage for extra cars or guests to park. Here's a few pictures to show our progress -- slowly but surely. We have decided to wait to start building the house until the spring. We were getting too close to winter and we want to save a little more money before we start. I'm glad we are waiting. I don't want to rush building the last home I will probably ever live in! Crazy when you think of it that way. It better be worth it!Here it is all finished for now (below). The parking pad will be where all the tracks are at the bottom of the picture. It doesn't have the gravel on it yet. It only has the base rock. We are waiting until the basement is dug and the foundation it set to finish that part of the road!

Miranda May

I thought I'd post a little about Miranda since I haven't done so for awhile and she is changing so fast! She is almost 20 months old. I can't believe how fast time goes sometimes. Miranda knows how to get what she wants. She is a screamer. She often lets out a piercing scream if someone does something that she doesn't like or takes something away from her. It's very effective - especially in sacrament meeting. She loves routine and she loves her family. She doesn't like us to be apart. Her favorite spot is snuggling between me and Leonard in bed. She usually does this in the morning before we get out of bed. She won't sleep there, but she loves to snuggle there. She is a good sleeper. She goes to bed around 8:00 and wakes up about 8:00 in the morning. She is starting to talk and knows quite a few words. Some of them are:

Mo - drink or milk

Tuk - stuck

mine - obviously "mine"!

Na Na - her pacifier, which it's obvious to everyone that she LOVES her pacifier - this also sometimes means banana.

Ow - could mean "down" or "out" depending on where she is at

Dada - dad

da da - said shorter and quicker then the above one means Kaydra

byebye - usually done with flair with a kiss blown your way!

She has others but these are the ones that come to mind. She is one of those kids that is either happy or mad. There isn't really an in between kinda kid. She still has really long eyelashes but her hair has gotten much lighter. She loves dogs and cats and she is starting to show her maternal side by "tucking in" dolls and stuffed animals to go to sleep. She is particular about how the blankets are spread out and she gets frustrated if she can't spread them out on the floor like she wants to. She is a joy to have around. She brings laughter to our home. We feel blessed to have her here!

Cross Country

The elementary school here is great. They have so many activities offered to the kids as extra curricular that the PTO pays for. They have a "Special Chorus" group for 3-5th graders that meets once a week. Then they perform at various things around town. The also have an art class for the kids that meets once a week after school for kindergarten-5th graders. AND this fall they had a cross country team. They ran at school during recess for their training and then had one meet for the entire district yesterday. There were over 800 kids there! It was pretty amazing to see all those kids excited to run. My kids both participated and did quite well. Kanyon ran 1/2 mile and Kaydra ran 1 mile. True to the nature of cross country they didn't simply run around the track -- they ran down the middle of the football field out of the stadium around the school yard then back into the stadium to circle the outside of the track (on grass) then onto the track for the finish. They didn't place in the race but they both ran the entire time and I was really proud of both of them. They were given a t-shirt to wear that they get to keep and they were given a ribbon for finishing the race and some chocolate milk as soon as they were done! The only bad part was that it was STINKING COLD! We were all bundled up and FREEZING while we waited for our kids to finish. I was glad they didn't do really well for their age group because we would have had to stay for the award ceremony! It was fun to see them so excited about something that was healthy! I miss living so close to Falls Valley and having my kids walk to school. It is a great school and I always felt like they were safe there. Since we can't go there anymore, I am really glad that we are sending them to Winton. They really take care of the kids and they are really trying to teach them life skills and help them learn to enjoy learning. It is also a really great school! GO WINTON WOLVES!

P.S. Here are a few more baptism pictures -- thanks mom!

P.P.S. So I was never going to be one of those moms whose toddler always has her pacifier in her mouth. It seems like all the pictures I have of Miranda lately include her pacifier! How did that happen?! In my defense, I usually take pictures at special events and those events do not usually embrace screaming toddlers. Miranda is a screamer and the pacifier has literally become a plug to keep her quiet. I hope she won't take it to kindergarten!

Baptism Day

Kaydra was baptized this past weekend. I feel bad because I didn't take very many pictures. I had good intentions of taking pictures with all the family that was there but it never happened. I don't even have a picture with my little family all together. If anyone who was at the baptism took some pictures I would love to have a copy - email me! It was a rainy day but we were blessed with lots of family that made the trip to Coeur d'Alene. The Stephans came from Boise with their four kids, my parents and Jackson came with Courtney and Dan and their three kids from Idaho Falls, Paul flew from Utah, Markell and Andre came from Moscow, and, of course, Len's parents came as well. We also had a few families from the ward there too. It was a simple service with the primary kids singing and Len's mom and Paul speaking. I felt the spirit very strong and I knew that Kaydra was making a good choice. She is such a good girl. She makes my life very happy. I love her very much. Len baptized her and then confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She looked beautiful and happy and I hope that she can remember how she felt for the rest of her life. I know that many other people wished they could have been there and I want to thank you for having that desire in your heart. Your love was felt as well. It was such a special day and I am having trouble describing it. Most importantly, I want Kaydra to know that I am proud of her and that we will love her always.

What should I post about?

I feel like I should post something because it has been so long, but nothing really exiting has happened lately. Just day to day stuff --- so I guess I'll post about that. We are finalizing our house plans this week and we found a builder. Now we are trying to convince the builder that we can build the house for what we think we can :) We'll see - we are finding that building a house is a lot more expensive than we thought it would be. We knew it was expensive but we thought that it would be different for us. I don't know why I thought that, but I did. Needless to say, it seems to cost us the same amount that it costs everyone else - imagine that. So we are working on the budget. We got the permit for the septic system and we will probably start digging that in the next week. Then we need to finalize our financing and get the building permit so we can start digging the foundation. It has been fun and not fun all at the same time!
Kaydra had her baptism interview today and she passed. She will be baptized on Oct. 2 (Friday) at 11:00 am. If you are coming, please let me know. We are having lunch afterward and I am trying to get a head count! We are so proud of her to make this decision. She is such a great girl and she is really excited to be baptized.
Len shot an elk this month and it is wrapped and in the freezer. This is where I should post a picture of it but I haven't downloaded the camera lately and maybe my blog readers don't want to see a picture of a big elk. It was a five point bull and he shot it behind the house in the woods. He was excited but it took he and his dad about 8 hours to get it down and home. Len was pretty tired the next day.
The kids are doing well in school. Kanyon was the "special person" this week and he got to take a treat and a show and tell item to school. He took some peacock feathers and the kids loved it. He told them about how he lives on a farm and that we have a peacock. The teacher even kept them to show them to the morning class as well. Kaydra seems to be doing pretty good too. We went to back to school night and met the kids teachers and saw their classrooms. It was pretty fun and the kids liked to show us around.
Len has been working a lot and I have been working a little which is just right for now. I think that's about all for now. At least it's something! :)

The end of summer

We spent our last weekend of summer in Idaho Falls for my sisters wedding. I flew on Monday with Miranda to help my mom and Courtney finish up the planning and buy all the food! It was fun to spend time with them and with Markell before her big day. Mom and Courtney had done so much prepping already that we just had to pull everything together. And we had to decorate....and decorate....and decorate! It was fun though and it looked beautiful. The only decorating flaw was that the paper lanterns fell on the crowd during the ceremony! At least it was memorable! After all that decorating and preparing, guess how many pictures I took?! Not a single one! Can you believe it?! It just seemed like there wasn't any time to pull out my camera. I know that lots of people took lots of pictures so you will just have to wait for now. :)

Markell looked beautiful. We love her so much. I am so happy that her and Andre will be close to us here in Coeur d'Alene. I hope we see a lot of them both! As a side note, when we were in Idaho Falls we had a chance to talk with the architect for our new home. We went over the blueprints and they are working on our changes! It's a step forward on our new house!

We returned home on Sunday night and then Monday I had to work all day (7:00 am to 7:00 pm). It was a long day and when I got home my kids were worried about all their school supplies being in the right place. We went through their lists and filled their backpacks and pulled out clothes for them to wear the next day. They were so excited to start school. It made me remember about my first days of school and how some years made me more nervous then others. I never had to start a new school where I didn't know hardly anyone though, so I am sure they were more nervous then I had ever been. The next morning they were both up early. Kanyon said he was the first one awake because he was so excited. He was dressed and ready to go when I came upstairs at 7:00 am. Too bad I put him in afternoon kindergarten! He was very disappointed that he couldn't go to school with Kaydra. We waited for the bus at the neighbor's house and met the bus driver who said he would pick Kaydra up in front of our house from now on. I also told him to expect Kanyon that afternoon. I then got Miranda ready and we headed into town to make sure that Kaydra would find her class okay. We missed the back to school open house while we were in Idaho Falls so I wanted to go and meet her teacher. We found her classroom and put her stuff away and then we left her there! She was happy to be sitting next to Makenna - her friend from church. Makenna had saved her a seat - so nice!

Kanyon and I messed around the house. I tried to keep him busy so he would quit asking when he could have lunch and go to school. Finally, at 11:30 I fed him lunch. We had to leave at noon. I made him a sandwich and then went downstairs to finish a few things and get ready to go. About 15 minutes later I came up to find Kanyon SOUND ASLEEP on the couch! I had been trying to get him to take a little nap without success. He finally decided he needed one when it was time to go! Crazy boy! I had to wake him up and get him in the car. He did say he felt better after taking a little nap :)

Kanyon following his teacher's directions

They both had a good day and I was relieved to see that they both made it on the bus to come home. Happy Fall!