Vacation Day 7 - Legoland!

On March 30, day 7 of our vacation we drove about 5 minutes from our hotel to Legoland. The kids were really excited to go on rides and the weather was just right - not to hot and not too cold.

We had pre-scheduled to celebrate Kanyon's birthday (again!) there so that gave us discount tickets and lunch. It was more crowded than we had hoped for because of Spring Break but the kids still had a good time. I was talking to Jodi about the day and I said to her that I really feel like a grown-up now because when I'm at a theme park, a good day is not based on whether or not I had fun but if the kids had fun instead. :) I must be getting old! Honestly, I think that Lagoon is much more fun and definitely more worth the price of a ticket but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. The best part was the lunch. They had a little tent set up for us with a small table for the kids and a big table for the adults. The kids had legos to play with as their center pieces. They brought out drinks (as much as we wanted) and salad (as much as we wanted) to start with and there was a bowl of fruit as well that we could help ourselves to. We got to choose from a few items on the menu (the kids all got hot dogs and the adults all had Philly cheese steak sandwiches except for Jodi - she got a pasta dish) and then they brought out a cake to celebrate.

Kanyon thought it was pretty fun. At the end of the party, they brought out party bags for each of the kids to take home with them. It had some treats and a lego toy inside. Not bad, considering it would have cost us over $100 to feed all of us at the park and instead it didn't cost us anything. In fact, we paid less than we would have if we had just shown up that day to enter the park. It definitely pays to check ahead on things! We rode rides for as long as we could stand. Mike and Jodi were troopers and watched Miranda for us for about an hour while we waited in line for a ride. The birthday party also gave us a pass to ride on one ride by going through the exit line. Kaydra and Kanyon picked the biggest, scariest roller coaster ride they could find. It was pretty similar to Wild Mouse at Lagoon. It was fun, but we were glad we didn't have to wait in line for an hour. The kids all got their driver's license at driving school where they let the kids ride mini cars and teach them about traffic laws.

They thought that was pretty neat. They also worked together to try to put out a burning building by pretending to be firemen in a race against other teams. I think Leonard really got a workout in that one! By 5:30 Miranda was screaming that she was DONE so Leonard took her to the car. I helped Kaydra and Kanyon find one last treat before we left the park. It closed at 6:00 anyway. We met up with Mike and Jodi and family at the hotel again, rested up for about 10 minutes and then headed to dinner. We chose a local seafood restaurant to eat at and it was quite delicious. The kids were eating the clams like candy. I think Emily had 15. It was a good day and we were really glad to be back in the hotel. Of course the kids weren't finished so we put on their swimsuits and we went swimming in the hotel pool for about an hour. Then they were finally tuckered out and went to sleep very quickly. One blessing through this whole trip was that Miranda slept amazingly well. Considering our last attempt to stay in a hotel (in Moscow with Markell) we were a little worried about it. But everywhere we went she slept like a charm. I am so thankful for the small things sometimes!

Monday, March 29 -- Vacation Day 6

Monday was the day we planned to drive to Carlsbad where we had a hotel near the Ocean. We weren't in a hurry and we took some time eating breakfast and packing up the cars. We were ready to go but Mike and Jodi weren't quite ready yet so we walked about a block to the park on Fort Irwin. It's so nice that they have a park so close to their house. We took all the kids (except Juniper) and played while Mike and Jodi finished getting ready. It's so funny to me how we build parks for our kids with so many cool things to do on them and they still find ways to use them incorrectly. I love these pictures of Emily. Why do kids do that? She says she likes to take naps there -- funny girl!

Jodi and Mike were ready to go and we packed up the kids in the car about 10:00. We drove about 45 minutes when we heard a loud "pop!" under our hood. We were about 10 minutes from Victorville. The car then sounded like a REALLY LOUD motorcycle. We knew what had happened because it had happened before. We had blown out a spark plug from the engine. Last time Leonard was able to fix it at home. This time, we pulled over, got out of the car and Leonard said, "I wish I had put my tools in the car before we left home." We called Mike and Jodi and they turned around to come find us. Mike did have tools in his car so the guys fiddled with it for a little while until they announced that they didn't have the right tools and that the casing that held the spark plug was broken so we needed to head into town to get it fixed. (Because we knew what was wrong, Leonard felt it was safe to drive the car to town. If it hadn't happened before we wouldn't have known what was wrong and we would have had to call a tow truck - glad we didn't have to wait for one!)We pulled into a Ford dealership and the part we needed was about $100. Len thought that was too much so he and Mike drove to Autozone to get the part and the tools while Jodi and I walked across the street to Target with the kids to get some sand toys for the beach. We came back about an hour later and Leonard and Mike declared that the threads were skewed and that the spark plug would not screw back into the engine. I said we better figure out what it will take to fix it. Mike and Leonard went into the Ford Service Department and came out about 5 minutes later with the news that Ford could fix it for $3000! WHAT!! All sorts of scenarios raced through our minds.

1- our car is barely worth $3000 - it's worth more than that to me but if we sold it, we wouldn't get much more. Did we really want to put that much money into it?

2-We could buy a new car to drive home. Although this sounds fun in theory, shopping for a car when you're desperate with three kids is not fun - plus we are in a loan agreement for our house that includes no further debt right now.

3-We could drive Mike and Jodi's Jeep back home. They are moving in June and have to bring both cars to Coeur d'Alene anyway - but then they might not have enough room to bring all their stuff home.

4-We could rent a car to get home. That sounded pretty good too but we are about 1000 miles from home so it would be quite expensive to do this. Plus we would then have to buy a new car when we go home.

Leonard said to call the insurance company and see if they could help us. That phone call took about 45 minutes and they said they would send an insurance agent out to look at the car and see if it would qualify for them to fix it. He told us to rent a car and leave the Explorer at the dealership and that if they could fix it, they would and then we could pick it up on our return trip. This seemed like a good idea, plus it meant we could be on our way. We had 8 kids that were more than ready to be going. It was lunch time, however, so we decided that eating was the priority.

We went to In-n-Out Burger. It was my first time and although we ordered WAY to many fries, it was quite delicious. For future reference, everyone in your family does not need their own fries. Our family could have shared one - we ordered four.

After our belly's were full, Mike carpooled us to Enterprise to rent a car. We got a pretty good deal because we were broken down and they felt bad for us. They gave us the insurance rate and we got a Toyota Avalon. It was quite roomy. The three kids had plenty of room in the back seat and all of our stuff fit in the trunk. We were unloading the Explorer into the Avalon when Leonard starting thinking that waiting on the insurance company was a bad idea. He said that there is no way that this was going to be covered. He didn't want to come back from Carlsbad and find that we would have to pay the $3000. He said, "Are you sure they will cover it?" I told him what they told me about sending someone to look and see if it could be covered. He thought we should call them again and ask if this is something they think they will cover. So I made another 30-45 minute phone call to the insurance company. This time the guy told me that if it is a mechanical problem, they will not cover it. If it was caused by an accident then they might cover it. We felt pretty certain that they would not pay for the repair of our car. Len decided to drive across the street to a different mechanic and see what they said. He and Mike came back with smiles saying that the other place said they could fix it for $450! Who knew we would be so happy to learn that it would only cost $450 to fix our car?! They said they could have it done on Wednesday, which was when we would be coming back through. So we drove it across the street, gave them the information they needed, and finally headed again for Carlsbad. The whole experience took us about 4 hours. All the kids did really great considering the circumstances. I called the insurance company back and canceled the claim. We were so glad to be on our way again - and so glad that we were not on a tight schedule!

We made it to Oceanside and finally let the kids out about 5:00. We stayed right on Oceanside once when we traveled with my parents and siblings when Kaydra was about 10 months old. It was fun to be there again. The kids had a blast.

We didn't put their swimming clothes on but that didn't stop them. They loved playing in the waves, the sand, and looking for shells. Miranda did not like the beach or the waves. I wish I had video of her first experience with the ocean. She was not sure what to think of the waves but in the end she decided that she didn't like them. She would scream every time she thought one might get her. The sand wasn't much better. She didn't like the feel of it on her feet and wanted to be carried everywhere or just sitting on a blanket. Silly girl. For someone who loves the lake - its funny to see her act like that with the ocean.

We packed them back into the car about 6:30 and headed about 20 minutes away to our hotel. We stayed at the Ramada Carlsbad by the Sea. Here's a picture of the pool. We were glad to be able to unload and take a break. We didn't stay long because we hadn't eaten dinner. We found a great Mexican restaurant that managed to find us a place we could all eat together and we finally started settling down from the days events. The kids were tired - and so were the grownups. Sleep came very easily to me that night :) What a day....

Spring Break Vacation Days 4-5

Saturday, March 27 we headed for Jodi's house. They live at Ft. Irwin in California. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The drive to Las Vegas wasn't bad. It took us about 5 hours. There were some cool things to see with different landscape and such. The weather got better the further south we drove. It had snowed in Provo while we slept so we dressed warm in the morning as we headed out. The three hours from Las Vegas to Ft. Irwin were tough. The kids were pretty good but it seemed like the desert went on forever. You would just come over a hill, hoping to see the next city on the other side and realize that there was just a straight highway as far as you could see in front of you. We saw some dune buggy racers and the kids liked the mirage effect the earth gave us with a lake just up ahead but then find it only to be more flat sandy earth. We made pretty good time, actually and found the Throckmorton kids waiting for us on the corner of their street about 4:30 in the afternoon. It took us about 8 1/2 hours from Provo. The kids were so happy to be out of the car! They played together and jumped on the trampoline. They made so much noise together that I am sure all of Fort Irwin could hear if they were outside!

We were again served a delicious meal by Jodi - we have such good family to take care of us away from home! - and enjoyed catching up. Leonard discovered that the Throckmortons had a cat - which meant that he continued his stay a little drugged up on Benadryl. He is quite allergic but seemed to manage pretty good.

These pictures were taken after a long day of playing outside together. I think it was the first time they actually sat down! :)

Cute baby Juniper who I think is about the best baby I have ever seen. We hardly heard her cry the whole time we were there. Your family is lucky to have you Juniper! :)

The first night we stayed I was woken up by Miranda at about 2:00 a.m. She was crying and I thought she was looking for her pacifier. I gave it to her and she spit it back out and continued to cry. So I picked her up and held her for a second when she threw up all over me! It was so gross! I woke up Leonard and he helped us both into the bathroom. We both got in the shower and cleaned up. Miranda screamed the entire time we were in the shower. She wanted to go back to bed! On the bright side, she managed to get it all over me (in my hair, all over my p.j.s) but there was nothing on the carpet or in her bed. We put her back down and I expected to be up again in about 30 minutes but she slept the rest of the night. I didn't sleep well after that because I kept expecting her to wake up again and I wanted to be ready!For the rest of the trip she ran a low grade fever and had really loose diapers but no more throwing up - thank goodness.

Kanyon managed to loose his first tooth while we were in California. He lost it while jumping on Jodi's trampoline. His bottom two teeth have been loose for some time but all it took was a knee in his chin and it came out. He was a little scared but also quite excited. Although he complained that the tooth fairy in California only left him a dollar and his sister got two dollars last time in Coeur d'Alene. The tooth fairy must be richer in Coeur d'Alene! :)

We went to the L.D.S branch in Ft. Irwin with the Throckmortons. The chapel was really pretty and cute. It had a beautiful stain glass window at the front of the chapel. We had sacrament meeting there but then went to a different building on post for Sunday School and Primary. The kids had a good time and Miranda even went to their nursery, although afterward the teacher told me that Miranda kept saying "Potty" while pointing to the door. We think she was trying to get out by pretending she had to go potty. She is not potty trained. She is getting too smart. Luckily, the teacher knew she wasn't potty trained and didn't fall for it. Good job nursery leader!

We went home and had dinner, put the kids to bed, and played the train game. Jodi beat us all but I was in second. Leonard had never played it before but was willing to learn :) It was good to catch up with Jodi and Mike. We can hardly wait until they are living near us someday. Thank so much for all you did for us on the trip. I was going to tell about Monday in this post as well but I decided that it needs a post all by itself. You will just have to wait and see!

Spring Break Vacation Day 1-3

We are finally back home from our vacation - of course, I use that term loosely because Leonard and I both feel like we now need a vacation! We had a great time and in the next couple of posts I will try to recap the good, the great, and the bad that happened along the way.
We started our vacation on Wednesday, March 24. It had been quite a hectic week as we were getting ready to go. We had parent-teacher conferences and I was trying to finish gathering all the necessary things we needed to get our building permit submitted before we left town. I had everything ready except we were waiting for one thing from the engineer which was mailed to me on Tuesday. I expected it Thursday so I set everything out for Leonard to take to the building department Friday morning before he left to meet us. It didn't show up until Saturday so our builder had to come out to Neil and Kay's house and gather everything to take in for us -- more on that later!
I packed up the kids in the Explorer and we headed for Idaho Falls. The kids traveled great. They didn't sleep much but they were happy and played together quite well. One time I did look back and saw this fabulous sight -- Don't tell anyone, but I totally took these while I was driving!

I don't think Kaydra is actually sleeping. She was listening to a book on tape that her friend lent her but still - isn't is a pretty sight? I don't think it happened again the entire trip! Even Miranda traveled great to Idaho Falls. I rented a redbox for them and then we returned it when we got to Idaho Falls -- I LOVE redbox! I wish I had invented it!

We made good time and arrived to Idaho Falls about dinner time. For the record, it took us about seven hours to get to Idaho Falls. The kids played and we had dinner. All my immediate family that lives there was able to come for dinner, except Jana because she had to work :( Paul was also on Spring Break and was there so we were just missing Markell and Andre and Jana. It's not a small gathering when we're together anymore! It was fun to see everyone again. We took the kids on a short walk to see Grandma and Grandpa Parry (Great!). It was good to see them and visit for a bit. The kids were even treated to an ice cream cone. The kids didn't miss a beat - like we'd never left - and loved seeing all their cousins.

On Thursday I ran some errands with my mom in the morning (she deserves a medal because Miranda was CRAZY at Kohl's and she watched her while I tried on some clothes) while Kanyon went to his friend Tegan's house to play. The last two times we have traveled to Idaho Falls (for Markell's wedding in September and for Christmas) as we were leaving town he would start to cry saying that the only thing he had wanted to do was play with Tegan and he never got to do it -- so we made sure that it happened this time! We had a visit from Debie that morning too. Courtney and I took the kids to lunch (except Kalli because she was at school). After lunch, I took the kids back to my mom's while Courtney took Dreyken home to take a nap and my AWESOME brother, Paul, watched them while I ran a few more errands for our trip. I planned to be gone about 30 minutes and I was actually gone about 2 hours! Miranda slept the whole time but it was still a nice thing for him to do and made my errands much easier -- and more fun! What a great brother. He's still annoyed about the last time I posted about him and his eligibility status so that's all I will say about that! Thanks Paul!

That night we went over to Courtney's for pizza and we got to see Jake, Jana, and Riley, and Scott and Traci. Traci is having a baby in June and she is looking SO great! She is just the perfect little pregnant woman - both my married brothers picked great moms to carry their babies! It was fun to see her and Jana and talk about the things going on in their lives. We stayed until about 8:00 and then went back to mom and dad's and put the kids to bed.

On Friday we got up, I did a load of laundry, visited with Tammi (who so graciously stopped by to say hello!) and then we packed up again and headed for Utah. We went to lunch with Courtney again first and then hit the road about 12:30. Leonard's plane was scheduled to land at 3:36. We arrived at 3:38 in the pick-up passenger lane. He called me about 3:40 and I told him where we were and by 3:50 we were on our way again. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I did have a car full of kids that were dying to get out of the car and couldn't understand why the airport pick-up lane wasn't a good place to do that :) Luckily we waited a very short amount of time.

We headed to the Livingston's house to sleep for the night. For those that don't know, Eric and Tarah Livingston were my life savers when we lived in Twin Falls - well, mostly Tarah but Leonard liked having Eric around too! Eric and Leonard grew up together in Coeur d'Alene and it just happened that they lived in Twin Falls the same time that we did. They have a daughter and a son that are only months apart from Kaydra and Kanyon so we did many things with them while we lived there. Tarah was the person I could call in an emergency to watch my kids and knew that she would do it. She even watched my kids when they had chicken pox once -- of course, my kids got the chicken pox from her kids -- but STILL!! :) They live in Provo so we were just a little closer to California and it let the kids play and take a break before the long car ride. It took them about two minutes to warm up and then we hardly saw them.

It was fun to catch up and Tarah fed us a fabulous dinner and breakfast. Thanks! We got on the road at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 27 and headed for the desert. And what a ride it was.....

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!

Miranda's Belated Birthday

We celebrated Miranda's birthday on Sunday. We were so glad to have Markell and Andre there with us. It's nice to have them close. We missed everyone else that wanted to be here but couldn't. For those that missed it, here is a 5 minute video that is a pretty good snapshot of the event. I LOVE how expressive this little girl is -- it's easy to tell what she's thinking, isn't it?!

Happy Birthday Miranda!

Miranda turns two today. I had to work the last two nights and Len has to work this evening from 3-11 so we are planning to celebrate Miranda's birthday on Sunday. I thought we needed to do SOMETHING to symbolize her birthday so I took her for a haircut. Until today, this is what Miranda's hair often looked like! :)

I was a little worried she wouldn't sit in the chair but she did great. She liked the new experience and ate it up. This isn't her first haircut (my friend cut it once in our bathroom) but it was the first time she went to a salon. She liked the attention. They weren't very busy so there were a few ladies giving her lots of attention. Just the way Miranda likes it!

She sat very still until she started blow drying her hair. She squirmed with that and seemed a little nervous - thankfully it didn't last too long!

Here she is all done and then back in her car seat.

I love this little girl. I can't believe she is 2 already. She has grown up so fast and so slow at the same time. She is funny and cute and I am still mesmerized by her long eyelashes - just like her dad's. Her verbal skills are developing everyday and she loves it when we understand what she is trying to tell us. Her favorite new word seems to be "Look" and she says it a lot. She is putting a few words together to make sentences and she loves to play. She is a water kid. We have been swimming a few times lately and she is in love with water. We went on Monday and she kept trying to get me to let go of her. She was convinced that she could swim by herself. She loves to float on her back and kick her legs. She likes to jump full force off the side of the pool and doesn't seem to worry if someone is there to catch her or not. She loves to wrestle and play with her dad and her brother and sister. She calls herself "Ma May" (Miranda May) and she loves to see pictures of herself or catch her reflection in a mirror or window. The funniest is when she catches herself in the reflection of my eyes. She thinks that is pretty funny and she will say, "Look, mama! Ma May! Ma May!" While pointing at my eyes! She has a lot of spunk and spirit and we feel blessed to have her in our family! Happy Birthday Mandy!

Courtney and Paul?? :)

I have been struggling with Miranda and Kanyon lately.Since nothing too exciting is going on in our lives that seems blog worthy, I decided today that I should just blog about what is going on in our lives - blog worthy or not - so that someday we can look back and remember -- for better or worse! Lately my daily tasks included keeping Kanyon and Miranda from killing each other. It's not quite that bad but for some reason, these two are either playing and laughing (really laughing) with each other, or they are fighting, yelling, and crying. They are the two that I have to separate at the dinner table (Because Miranda tends to steal food off the plate of the one sitting next to her and Kanyon cannot handle that). They are the two that can't sit next to each other at church (Because Kanyon might take the red crayon --or anything else laying around-- that Miranda was THINKING about taking and then she will scream at the top of her lungs.) They are the two that can't sit next to each other in the car. (Because Kanyon might touch Miranda or get too close to her car seat which will cause Miranda to scream and hit Kanyon which will cause Kanyon to yell, "MIRANDA, NO!" which will cause me and/or Leonard to feel like throwing all of them out the window!:) Anyway, you get the picture. My sister-in-law, Michelle, thinks that it may have to do with birth order. This past week, I was wondering if they would ever grow out of it when the thought came to me that my sister, Courtney, and my brother, Paul, used to fight a lot. They are also the second and third children in my family. I remember when I was little -- maybe 7 or 8 which would have made Courtney 5 or 6 and Paul 3 or 4 -- that they could have some pretty good fights. Usually just yelling at each other but occasionally hitting and punching would be involved as well. I know that it's hard to believe because Courtney and Paul are just about the most mellow people that I know. Courtney is one of my closest friends and I miss her dearly. Here she is on her recent vacation to Mexico - I am still jealous! She has ALWAYS been there for me and listened to my problems. She has stepped up to help me out with my kids so many times that I can't even begin to count them. She babysat Kanyon and Miranda both when they were only 6 weeks old so that I could go back to work. I know, without a doubt that she loves my kids almost as much as I do. I trust her so much. I am so glad she is my sister.

Paul is super smart. He has his MBA and he is almost finished with Law School. He knows the strangest things and he loves to learn. He also shows a sincere affection to my children, especially Miranda. We have always thought that Miranda looked a lot like Paul. Paul is quiet but really funny and he has a great sense of humor and a great way with kids. He is content to just be with family. AND although he doesn't always show it, I know that he loves to be around all of us. He flew to Coeur d'Alene for Kaydra's baptism. It was a quick trip and he didn't have to come, but he did - and he even spoke. He has a special place in my heart and I hope that he finds a really awesome wife because he deserves one and I know that he will be a fabulous husband and father. (He's available if anyone in the Salt Lake Area is interested - He will probably kill me for that!)

What I've decided with all of this contemplating is that I hope that Miranda and Kanyon turn out to be like their aunt and uncle who also used to fight. I am pretty sure that there's hope for them yet. I just need some patience.......

Yes, I totally stole these pictures of your facebook pages. I think that the ones of Miranda and Paul are funny how they are both profile shots. It's hard to tell, but they really do look alike! They have the same eyes and the same dimple in the corner of their mouth when they smile.

We're still here

So I haven't posted for awhile. I noticed that I only posted once in January - that my worst month since I started this blog. I think I am going through a blogging slump! Our days seem to blend together and before I know it the week is over and I haven't taken any pictures. I decided that I should post even without the pictures today. This weekend we decided to go to Moscow to see Markell and Andre. Andre had called Leonard to see if he wanted to go fishing last weekend but things didn't work out, so we planned for all of us to go over this weekend. We got a good deal on a motel in Moscow thanks to Markell's student survival coupons. We stayed at the Best Western and for the record - they have a really great pool so if you ever stay in Moscow, I recommend it - especially with kids. We got a late start on Friday because Len and I had committed to attend the temple with the youth baptisms. We didn't get home until about 9:00 p.m. but we were on the road by 9:30 and the kids settled in to their seats and fell asleep. It was a quick, easy trip. I am always surprised how fast it is to Moscow from Coeur d Alene. Unfortunately, the peaceful trip meant that Miranda was wide awake when we got to the motel just before 11:00. Kaydra and Kanyon drug themselves into the room and quickly fell back to sleep but Miranda wanted to explore. We let her run around the room a little bit. Every time we would try to put her into her crib she would cry and scream - which the people around us did not appreciate, I'm sure! At midnight I gave her a bath - which didn't help. At 12:30 Len took her for a walk until about 1:15 -- she still cried when we put her in bed. He went back out with her at 1:20 and returned about 2:00 - still did not want to go to sleep. The hotel is pretty big and Len discovered that the loop around was about 470 paces - he should know - he walked it 15 times. We tried putting her in her crib, laying her on the floor, letting her sleep with us - she would just scream. At this point she is so tired, I don't think she knew how to go to sleep and we were at our wits end! I took her out about 2:15 and walked around with her for about 15 minutes. Then I held her and walked while I carried her up and down the hall for 45 minutes until she finally fell asleep in my arms. She even stayed asleep when I put her in her crib. She finally went down at 3:15. She woke up at 4:30 and then again around 5:15 because she was coughing. Len's alarm went off at 6:00 so he and Andre could go fishing. He ended up calling Andre and they didn't leave until 8:00. Miranda, of course slept in until about 9:30. We were all very tired the next day! Markell came over with Andre. Len and Andre left while Markell watched t.v. with us until Miranda woke up so we could all go swimming. The kids loved the pool. They had a small pool just perfect for toddlers that was warm and only about 18 inches deep. They also had a big pool and a hot tub. We all swam for about 2 hours. Kanyon and Kaydra are getting to be great swimmers. They can both swim the length of the pool without much difficulty. Kanyon has now mastered floating on his back and he was pretty proud of that. After swimming we realized that we had forgot to pack Kanyon's pants and Miranda's shoes (they came in their pj's) so we ate lunch at the hotel restaurant (Kanyon in his pj's) then we packed up and headed to Old Navy. They were having a pretty good sale (30% off everything!) and I found a pair of pants for Kanyon and some shoes for Miranda plus a few other things for a great price. We went to a different mall that had a play yard and let the kids play for awhile. Len and Andre returned from fishing (Len caught one whitefish and that was all), we got them lunch and then went to a park (it was 50 degrees in Moscow!). We left Moscow about 4:00. We got to see Markell and Andre's house and spend some time with them so overall it was a good trip. It was good to see them both. Like I said, I should have taken some pictures. We drove home and, of course, all the kids slept almost the entire way. Miranda was asleep by the time we got just outside of Moscow - stinking kid!!!
We arrived to find the Stephans here so the kids were excited to play with cousins. They stayed overnight and left first thing this morning. It was a short trip but we were glad that we got to see them. It was a busy weekend but it was fun to have something new to do. Plus, we all got naps today so we are feeling much better!

Christmas Catch-Up

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd better do a little catching up. Sorry, this may be a really long post! We had a very busy, fun-filled Christmas break. The kids were excited to be out of school. On Monday, December 21, Jodi and Mike and their family arrived from California. The kids were so happy to have cousins to play with. They all played quite well together and even entertained Miranda that first night so all the adults could visit. It was good to catch up. When they arrived, we fed them a quick dinner and then hustled them out the door to catch a cruise boat to the North Pole - Coeur d'Alene style. The weather cooperated by not raining like it had been doing for the past 10 days or so. It was cold but at least it wasn't raining. We didn't bring anything to dry off the seats that were on the top of the boat so we had to stand most of the ride. (I say this because I remember last time I went on the cruise - 6 years ago - that I wished we had brought a towel or something to dry off the seats. Maybe if I write it down I will remember next time we go!!) The boat took us across the lake to the opposite shore where Santa and Mrs Claus were waiting for us. They visited with us (they had a mic wired to the sound system on the boat so we could hear them) and played a "who can yell louder" game (there were two boats at a time) and then Santa read from his list names of the kids that had been good. It was great to see all the kids listening hoping to hear their names. When Kanyon heard his name he shouted, "I made it!" When Santa got to Kaydra and Kanyon's name he asked, "How's that pond doing?!" The kids were surprised that he knew about our ice skating rink. We all crammed inside the boat for the ride back to the dock where it was warm and enjoyed some hot chocolate. It was a fun little trip!

Here is everyone waiting in line to get on the boat.

Here is the boat that we rode on

This is a picture of the whole boat lit up

Here is a picture of our family at the end of the cruise.

***I know I look crazy - remember it's been raining for 10 days and my hair is FRIZZY - but don't worry, I got it cut yesterday (12 inches) and it's MUCH better!

We had a quiet next couple of days as Jodi and Mike went to spend some time with Mike's family but they came back late Christmas Eve so that they could share Christmas morning with us. Kelly also came from Idaho Falls. The room was so full of presents that we could hardly find places to sit! It reminded me of my Christmas mornings when I was little because with seven kids in the family there were always a TON of presents! There were 15 of us and we had a good time.

Miranda cleaning up after all of us in her new play skirt with her new vacuum!

After the Christmas Craziness

Kaydra and Emily both got a DS and so the girls spent a lot of time trying one anothers games out (Cora already had one) We kicked them outside a few times and it finally froze again so we were able to ice skate on the pond. They all got to try and they all did surprisingly well. I wish I could remember what it felt like to not be REALLY afraid to fall! They also got to be pulled in a sled behind the 4-wheeler in the field. They liked that until a few of them got dumped out on a sharp turn. After a few tears and some hot chocolate, everyone seemed to be fine!

The whole family pitched in and bought Neil and Kay a new television. It's 42 inches and, according to Neil, about 20 inches bigger than one they would have picked out for themselves! BUT - it's awesome! It's really fun to watch movies on and the picture is great. Here is a video of them opening their gift. I took it mostly for Reid and Michelle but you can watch if you wish!

We packed up and the Throcks left on December 29 leaving Grandma and Grandpa alone. I'm sure that was a big change after having 15 of us in the house for three days. Len and I both had to work in the morning but we got on the road for Idaho Falls at about 4:00pm. We arrived about midnight our time (1:00 am their time) and were surprised to find nearly everyone awake waiting for us. It was good to spend time with everyone in Idaho Falls. Everyone on my side of the family was able to be there. We had a Christmas there as well and the kids got some really great gifts that they really like and are still playing with! We made it there on pretty much dry roads but it started snowing the next day. We were able to take the kids sledding and they loved that. Miranda had it made! She was sitting in a sled and someone would go down with her and then pull her up the hill and then someone else would take a turn. I don't think she stopped sledding for about an hour! It was really good to see and spend time with everyone there. We drove by our old house and the kids were glad to see that someone was taking good care of it with lots of Christmas lights up. It's weird to see someone else living in your house. We also got to see Grandma and Grandpa Parry and had them over for dinner one night. I also got to see my cousin Stephanie. We missed lots of other cousins while we were there. I wish I could have seen you all!

We celebrated New Year's at my mom and dad's with everyone there. We let Kaydra and Kanyon stay up for the first time until midnight. They had a great time playing games with their cousins but Kaydra had a little too much and was actually not feeling well by the time midnight came around. In fact, she was sick in the bathroom right as we watched the ball fall in New York. Poor girl! Maybe next year she can see it! :(

We left Idaho Falls on Dec 3 because the kids started school the next day. The roads were okay but a little yucky over Monida pass. We arrived safe and sound back in Coeur d'Alene. We were glad to be home and able to use our new Christmas gifts again. Thank you to everyone who brought us a gift, spent time with us, or even thought of us over your Christmas season. We had a great Christmas and hope all of you did as well.

2009 Christmas Card

I sent our Christmas cards out last week. I know that everyone hasn't gotten them yet but I wanted to post our greeting today. Sorry if you've already read this and you're bored, and sorry if you haven't and I've just spoiled your Christmas card from us! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas today!

FitzSimmons Family 2009
As we sit here and think about 2009
I thought that we’d try it again, with a rhyme.
We’ve had several big changes this year, as you’ll see
And to tell all of you, Len’s left it to me.

We started the year off with quite a surprise
We even told Len’s mom and dad a few lies.
They had no idea, no one leaked out a word
Len applied for a new job, and in March finally heard.

They wanted him NOW, he accepted right quick
Then he moved to Coeur d’Alene, lickety-split!
He went by himself and the rest of us stayed
To finish the school year, while he got paid.

It was June when the rest of us came along
But August before our house was long gone (SOLD!)
We’re living with Grandma and Grandpa Fitz
While trying to protect their house from three kids!

Len likes his new job, and I got one too
We now are both nurses, we like what we do.
Len shot a big elk with his bow, no surprise
While I stayed at home and continued our lives.

Kaydra started third grade and its easy to tell
She makes friends quite quickly with simply a yell
She still loves to read every book in plain sight
And plays with Miranda nearly each night.

Kanyon’s in kindergarten now, don’t you know
I’m starting to wonder, where’d all the time go?
He’s happy and healthy and got a new cat
And Grandpa says he’s got the best smile on the flats.
(We live on Mica Flats now, just outside of Coeur d’Alene)

Miranda will be two in February, so soon!
She smiles and she laughs and shines like the moon.
Except when she yells, and she does it quite loud
We wish we could throw her up in a cloud!

Our dream this year, a log house we will build
Lots of room for company, we hope it will yield
We’ll work really hard, so you’ll see in the end
A new address we’ll have in two-thousand and ten.

My rhyming is weak, and my stories are told
I hope that you all don’t think this is old
We send love to you all, and holiday cheer
Merry Christmas and joy in the upcoming year!

With Love,

Leonard, Brooke, Kaydra, Kanyon, and Miranda