The Napali Coast

On day #2 of our vacation we had set up a catamaran tour with Blue Dolphin Charters.  We had to be there at 7:00 am so we were up and out early on our first day.   This post we mostly be pictures.  The tour went around the south and west part of the island to see the Napali Coast.  Cliffs that reach 4000 feet out of the ocean.  It was beautiful.  We also had the opportunity to snorkel.  We saw tons of fish, an endangered Hawaiian Monk seal, and a sea turtle.  We also saw lots of Humpback whales jumping out of the water and had dolphins following our boat.  The water was great and we had a great time.  I got a little sea sick as we neared the coastline.  The swells were pretty impressive and the boat was really rockin’.  On the return trip, things settled down a bit and my stomach finally did as well.   What a beautiful world we live in.

Kawai’s famous “Red Dirt”

Here I am, trying not to be sick!A whale jumping

After our boat ride, we only had a short time before we had to return our rental car.  We drove back near the airport to see some water falls that we had been told about.  These falls, Wailua Falls, are just visible from the road.  You can walk down to them, but you will be trespassing and it’s a bit dangerous – so they say.  We just enjoyed the view.

We returned our car then spent the evening at the resort.  They had free Mai Tai’s  -- we enjoyed the non-alcoholic version – and a hula show that night.  Awesome.

Kauai, Hawaii

We did it!  We went to Hawaii – and it was awesome!  We had such a great time.  It was fabulous spending time together without the kids and knowing they were safe and having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.  I don’t know how I could ever write about everything we did, but I will do my best – mostly for me.  

We caught our plane out of Spokane on February 11.  Sara dropped us off, which saved us a lot on parking – Thank you!!  Then we boarded our plane, sat there for an hour.  Something was wrong with the plane, they got it fixed, only to find out that previous paperwork that should have been done, wasn’t.  So we couldn’t leave.  We were instructed to get off the plane, tried to reschedule our flight to Hawaii because we were going to miss it – only to get back on the plane and told not to worry – we would get to Portland just in time to catch our next flight because they were going to hold it a few minutes for us.    Finally everything was cleared for us to leave, and we were in the air!  We made it to Portland, got our carry-on bags and headed to another concourse to catch our flight to Hawaii.  As we were hurrying to catch the flight we hear, overhead, “Last call for boarding for flight 805 to Lihue”  We looked at each other – that’s us!  So we started running!  We were THE last passengers to board the flight.  The airline people checking us in at the gate said, “Don’t worry, it’s a long flight, you’ll be glad to had the chance to run a little bit before take-off!” 

They were right, the flight was long, and we were glad we didn’t have to wait another day to get there.   When we arrived in Lihue (Li  HOO  EE )  the first thing we noticed is that in Hawaii, construction costs are cheaper because you don’t have to build walls.  There were several buildings that didn’t have any walls, just a roof.  The airport was one of them.  The baggage claim area had three sides without walls.  I guess when it’s always warm, there is no need for total shelter!  We had rented a tiny economy car – to save money and gas – and the rental agent tried to talk us into upgrading.  We said no, then we went out to get our car and found that there was no economy cars available so we could “pick what we wanted” ?!  What?  He had tried to sell us something he knew we would get anyway?  We ended up with a 4 – door Jeep Wrangler for the price of an economy car.  That made someone (Leonard) very happy!

We checked into our resort then headed out for dinner. We were excited to finally be in Hawaii!

Day # 1

Miranda Turns 5

Miranda turned 5 on February 17.  We were in Hawaii.  Sorry Mandy!  To make up for it, we had a party for her before we left.  We invited a couple families from our ward out for cake and ice cream.  Miranda loves to be in the center of attention and she was so happy to have people over for her.  She really wanted a castle cake.  I had these grand ideas of what I would make for her.  Unfortunately, the cake didn’t cooperate well and we had to make our planned 4-tier cake into a 2-tier cake.  She was still pleased with the result, and enjoyed telling everyone that her cake just kept falling over so we had to make it smaller.  True.

Miranda is such a fun-loving, bubbly girl.   She is FULL of questions about life and other such nonsense   We try to discourage her as much as possible   She asks me nearly every day if she can start kindergarten now.  She is so excited to go to school like the big kids.  I have been working with her in a pre-reading program and she loves it when we take the time to do “mommy-school”. 

She is like a little sponge, when she wants to be.  She seems to have a hard time remembering some things – but I think that when it becomes important to her, then she remembers things just fine.  She appears outgoing and ambitious but inside, she is actually quite self-conscious and we have to be careful about teasing her too much.  She worries a lot about if people like her or not, and what they think of her.  She even gets ready for church and often says, “I hope someone will like my dress today.”  She loves her little sister and big sister, and loves to fight with her big brother.  Actually, Kanyon and Miranda play really well together… until they are fighting.  I’m sure you know the type!  They tease each other all the time and know just the right buttons to push. She helps a lot with Timberlyn by keeping her entertained and finding things to play with her.  She has a few favorite things she always says:  “I’m hungry”  and “But it’s SO BORING”  She can be pretty dramatic sometimes. 

Somehow, we love her to pieces anyway!  She is joy to be around, keeps us on our toes, and keeps us laughing.  She was a bit disappointed to learn after she blew out her candles that she wasn’t actually 5 yet.  It was a long week for Grandma and Grandpa before she was finally “the number”.  When we came home from Hawaii, she was so happy to see us.  She said, “Look, I turned 5 and now I am big!” 

One more thing I want to remember.  I took Miranda for her kindergarten shots recently.  She was nervous, but had faith that it wouldn’t hurt -- much.  She didn’t cry at all!  Afterward she said, “When the medicine went in, it DID hurt and I had to take a deep breath so I wouldn’t cry.  I thought that when you are an adult, it doesn’t hurt like when you are a baby?”  What am I going to do?  She thinks she’s an adult now!

Love you Miranda!  I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us!

Kaydra

All Right – I’m going to finally catch up.  For the record, I am writing this entry on March 7, although I am going to change the dates so they look like they were posted when they actually occurred.  I can’t have the entire month of February without any posts – especially since so much happened in February!   To start, I will talk about Kaydra.  This girl continues to amaze me.  She is so self-motivated and easily adapts to everything that comes her way.  She has had a tough year in sixth grade, yet she takes it all in stride.  She has THE hardest teacher for her advanced math and Language Arts class.  He gives so much homework – some of which I don’t agree with – yet, every day she comes home from school, sits down and does her work without being told.  I am not kidding – she is amazing and such a blessing in my life.   On top of it all, she is at the top of her grade.  She was student of the month in October – the second month she was at the new school – and she got straight A’s for her first semester at middle school.   As parents, we were invited to her school for the “It Pays to get A’s” assembly.  They give away prizes to the students who have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.  The entire grade is invited to the assembly to watch the students with good grades get honored for their work.  Love it!   Here she is at school, getting her certificate for her 4.0.

I know I am bragging a bit right now, but this girl deserves a little celebration.  I don’t tell her enough how proud I am of her and her hard work.  She is amazing and I am so blessed to be her mom!

Love you Kaydra!

January

I hope that I am not setting precedence for the rest of the year.  I didn’t blog at all in January.  Thus, here is one post to summarize it all and I hope that in the future, I will do better!  

January has been a little upside-down in our house.  The month started off with Leonard finally having surgery.  I say finally, because he had been waiting to have a hernia repair since about October.  It had actually been bothering him since August, but we kept putting it off and then when we realized it was going to have to be fixed, we decided to wait until the new year so we could start with a fresh deductible and plan for it with our flexible spending account.   If you don’t understand what any of that last sentence meant, don’t worry – it doesn’t really matter

Anyway,  he had surgery on January 9.

 

All ready to go.  He was quite nervous but everything went really well.  He was pretty chatty coming off anesthesia and was a bit entertaining.  For his sake, I’ll spare you the details, BUT the best part is he doesn’t remember any of it!  Funny for me to know a few things about him that he doesn’t know himself! 

The doctor said everything went well.  He would have to rest for a couple weeks, then he could return to work with a 15lb weight restriction.  WELL, the hospital didn’t like that.  Their policy says he must be 100% before returning to work.  That meant that he has had to be off for 6 weeks.  In fact, he can’t go back to work until February 21.  Luckily for us, he had enough sick and vacation time saved up that he could get paid while he took the time off to recover.  Because he HAD to use his vacation time, we have decided to put it to good use and plan a trip to HAWAII!!  We leave on February 11 (Monday!) and we are leaving the kids with Grandma and Grandpa FitzSimmons for 10 days!  We have never been to Hawaii, and we are really excited to go.  We also have not been on a trip by ourselves since I was pregnant with Kaydra.  We have been married 15 years and Kaydra is turning 12 this summer, so we think it’s about time! 

We are visiting the island of Kauai.  We have a hotel reservation and a couple of tours set up but that’s it.  Mostly we hope to lay on the beach and soak up some Vitamin D!   I am so grateful to my in-laws who didn’t hesitate when Leonard asked if they would watch our kids.  I hope they are blessed for their efforts with healthy kids and a rip-roarin’ good time!  I just keep thinking, “If Timberlyn sleeps, everything will be just fine!”  If you have any extra prayers, feel free to send them their way this week!

Because Leonard has been forced to stay home this past month, I picked up a few extra shifts so we could pay for our extra vacation!  We are so blessed with the ability to do this.  I actually worked 90 hours this past two weeks!  I haven’t worked that much since we lived in Twin Falls.  It was kinda fun to be back to work full time for a few weeks.  Leonard thinks we should keep up the trend and maybe switch off every couple of years – Two years of him full-time and then two years of me full-time.  I just laughed at him.  I quite enjoy my part-time status, thank you very much!! Anyway, that is why we have been a bit upside-down around here.  It did give him a chance to work on the basement a little more.  Kaydra’s room is getting so close to being done!  She has been so patient – I know it’s taking forever! 

Things will get back to normal pretty soon, however, and when we get back, I will have lots of pictures from Hawaii!  I’ll end this post with a scene that has become very familiar this past month.  Sometimes when I come home in the morning (after working all night) as the sun rises, the beauty that surrounds us takes my breath away.  This was one of those mornings – and realize that this picture isn’t even close to how it really was that morning.  We are so blessed.!

Christmas Day s–s–s–s

Why so many s’s?  Because we had FOUR Christmas Days this year!  What were we thinking??  We are so blessed to have so many people to share Christmas with!

We started with our own little Christmas on the 21st.  We were headed to Idaho Falls and didn’t want to pack presents both ways, so we did presents to each other before we left.  We got up early – my kids actually slept until 7:30! – and opened presents.  The older kids both got Kindle Fires for Christmas and they were SHOCKED!  That was fun!  Miranda got a bunch of hair styling stuff – She still loves to do hair!  She got a blow dryer, comb, scissors (pretend), clips, and her own little belt to hold them all in.  She looks like a regular beauty specialist!  Timberlyn got a baby doll and a stroller – which she loves to push around the house.  We were all packed up and had to tell the kids – sorry, it’s time to go!  Actually, they were all really excited to get in the car and be on the way.  They had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. 

The roads were good and we made pretty good time.  It was fun to finally see all my brothers and sisters again – except Jackson, who is in Peru – more about him later.  We stayed at Courtney’s house this time and the kids had a blast.  They love their cousins, and played and played the whole time we were there.  Sadly, some of them, and their parents, got sick on the second day we were there…. and then more of them were sick on the third day we were there BUT WE never got sick AND everyone was better by Christmas Eve – so that was a blessing!

Christmas Eve tradition has been that there is a family dinner/gathering at my parents house for all my mom’s family.  This year we had 59 people there!  Grandpa Parry read from the Bible in Luke.  He read the Christmas story like he has for as long as I can remember.  It brought back many memories of me sitting on the floor by my cousins, listening to Grandpa and being nervous for the talent show that would always follow.  Good memories.

This year we had appetizers and then we all traveled to Rigby to go bowling.  We had reserved the entire alley for our family and had the place to ourselves – Of course, there were a lot of us, so it was crowded – but it was crowded with people I love!  It was fun to see so many people that I never get to see anymore.  It was awesome to see cousins, and their babies that I had never met.  It was so great to be around family. My dad’s parents,his brother David,  his sister Karen and some of her family were able to meet us for bowling.  What a rare opportunity for me to have both sets of grandparents in the same room.  Awesome!  I wish I could have visited with them both much longer.

We had a traditional “open one present” at Courtney’s house that night and all the kids were happy with their new pajamas!

Christmas Day brought the second round of presents.  Santa visited us at Courtney’s house.  Our stockings were filled to the brim!  Kaydra got a new game – Dominion – that we have heard much about from my cousin Stephanie and we are excited to give it a try.  Kanyon got a set of the state quarters and a nice folio to keep them all in.  Miranda got a “Happy Napper” and some slippers that she had wanted and asked Santa for.  Timberlyn got a cute owl hat and more candy within her reach then her mother knew what to do with!  Leonard got a blue-tooth speaker for his phone and a mini SD card with all his music already on it.  I got some new BOGS which will be awesome in the snow and when it starts to melt.  Santa was very good to us.

We watched Courtney and her family open their Christmas presents and the kids were delighted to find that Kalli and Tarek also got Kindle Fires.  They all spent the next little while deciding which games they wanted to download. 

We then traveled over to Grandma and Grandpa Fuller’s house again and had the fantastic opportunity to Skype with Elder Jackson Fuller in Cusco, Peru!  How SERIOUSLY AMAZING is that?!  Jake had set up the computer to display on my parents big screen TV so we could all see him and he could see us.

It was awesome.  He looked great and we had a great time visiting with him.  It was almost the same as him being right there – except we couldn’t hug him – which we all wanted to do.  He comes home in only two months – we are so excited! 

The best part of the conversation was after Jackson had been introduced to all the new babies – there have been 6 since he left – then Paul tried to introduce him to another one – pretending it was his.  Jackson said, “PAUL HAD A BABY?!!!”  The baby was actually Aika, Markell and Andre’s baby.  It was SO funny! 

After talking to Jackson, we had round three of presents.   We did a cousin exchange with all the kids and Mom and Dad gave us some great gifts that we are truly grateful for.  We gave them a picture frame with it’s own email address like the one Neil and Kay have.  It’s awesome because you don’t have to download pictures to the memory card – you just email them and they show up on the frame.  Perfect for family that lives far away.  I hope it gets some good use. 

The next morning we were treated to a goodbye breakfast and then we headed on our way.  Leonard managed to get a flat tire while we were there, so we traveled home on the spare (it was a full sized tire) –without a spare!  We traveled safely and without any problems, thankfully.  We were so glad to spend time with everyone.  We are so blessed to be loved by so many and to have so many people to love. 

Our final Christmas was on Saturday, at Neil and Kay’s when we returned home from Idaho Falls.  We were treated to a delicious dinner, followed by more present opening!  We did a cousin gift exchange on Leonard’s side of the family as well, and the kids loved opening their presents from their cousins.  Each one fit that kid so well!  Neil and Kay were also very generous and thoughtful with the gifts they surprised us with.  We got Neil and Kay tickets to a concert that doesn’t even happen until April – but we think it will be a fun date night for them.  We are so grateful to them and for all their help with our kids.  I feel so blessed to live close to them. 

After Christmas, we changed the theme a little bit and celebrated Sara’s birthday!  It was fun to switch it up a little bit and spoil Aunt Sara for a time.  She is awesome and we are SO glad that Kelly decided to marry her – finally  

I know this is an extremely long post, and if anyone even gets to the end, you are amazing.  What it really shows me is how blessed my family truly is.  We come from amazing extended families.  We feel so loved by each of them and so blessed to be a part of them.  Thank you all for your love and support.  You are really the best gift we have.  YOU are what makes our life so amazingly awesome!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Tree

This year was the easiest year I have ever been Christmas tree hunting.  Last year was easy too – but I didn’t go because I stayed home with baby Timberlyn.  Anyway, this year was easy because Leonard said – “There’s a tree at the edge of the field that I think would be good for a Christmas tree.”  We bundled up all the kids, walked to the edge of the field – which was dry because there was no snow on the ground yet – found the tree, decided it was good, cut it, and drug it home.  I forgot my camera so we didn’t get a picture until it was decorated. 

It is a fantastic tree.  I think it is the fullest tree we have ever cut ourselves.  It’s only flaw is that it only has three sides – but you can’t tell because it fits perfect in the corner of our dining room.  We did learn that a three-sided tree doesn’t really like to stand upright.  But a little fishing line tied around it and then stapled to the wall fixed that problem pretty quick.  One of the benefits of log walls -- no one cares if there are a few more holes!  The tree looked great!  See for yourself!

Awesome, huh!  Love the smell of fresh cut pine.  Then, right before church one Sunday I took pictures of the kids in their new Christmas wear.

How did I get such good looking kids?  What a family I have!  I am so blessed!

Thanksgiving

I keep telling myself that I need to blog… Somehow it never happens.  I will try to update the past two months in three posts.  We’ll see how it goes.  For the record, I have almost no pictures on my camera for the past two months.  My blogging definitely improves the more I have my camera out, and lately, I haven’t had it out much.  Thus, I will steal many pictures from my siblings blogs.  Thanks in advance!

This year for Thanksgiving, Leonard had to work.  We decided to wait to celebrate until Friday because he had the day off that day.  I called Markell to see if she and Andre wanted to come celebrate for us and they thought that would be great.  They came as soon as Andre was finished with school – AND officially a graduate of University of Idaho, I might add – and arrived on Wednesday evening.  They brought their two cute kids and we had a great time.  We were also dog-sitting Neil and Kay’s new springer puppy.  With six kids (three under 2), four adults, two dogs, and a cat – we had a houseful!

Andre spent Thursday walking around the woods looking for a deer.  Thursday night, Markell and I braved the crowds and did a little early Christmas shopping.  Even though it’s crazy, it’s so fun!  Plus, it’s never as crazy as it is shopping with all four of my kids in tow.  With no children, we actually got a lot done!  We climbed into bed about 1:00 in the morning, feeling successful with our purchases.

Friday morning Leonard and Andre went hunting together.  They were trying to get Andre a deer to fill his freezer.  We were happy when they called late morning, saying they were successful.  It was a pretty nice buck that Andre shot and they were pretty pleased.

That afternoon we had our Thanksgiving dinner.  It was fun to prepare it with help from Markell and Kaydra.  We used all my Christmas dishes since we wouldn’t be here for Christmas – got to use them sometime!

 

That night we braved the crowds in Coeur d’Alene for the annual Thanksgiving parade and lighting ceremony.  They had a parade downtown followed by a walk to the park, candle lighting, and fireworks.  Then they light up all the trees in the park.  It was cold, but the kids seemed to like it – except for the babies – I’m pretty sure they thought we were crazy! 

We relaxed on Saturday, had homemade turkey soup and just let the kids play.  We also found time to make some swags to hand on the door for Christmas.  Then on Sunday, Markell and Andre headed back home.  We were glad they decided to spend their holiday with us.   Come again soon!

Pumpkin Carving

So I know I have been slacking in the blogging world.  I haven’t actually blogged for about 2 months.  Where did the time go?  After school started, it seems like we have been going like crazy!  Thanks to the wonderful world of Live Writer (where I write all my posts) I have been able to set the “post date” for my posts so I can backdate them to the appropriate time.  You will notice that there are several new posts following this one – even though they weren’t there yesterday.  I hope that you might have time to look through them all!  There are some cute pictures anyway! 

My kids always look forward to carving pumpkins.  We used to have an “in” with the Beck Family Farms in Gunnison, Utah where we would get all our pumpkins.  Now we live too far away to enjoy their generosity – so I have to BUY pumpkins.  I know I should grow some but that is for a different post completely!!  So I watch for a good deal and then buy enough to carve and an extra to make our traditional Dinner in a Pumpkin meal.  They were on sale this year for 9 cents a pound at Super 1.  I bought 4 pumpkins and they sat on our front step for about 10 days before we finally decided we better carve them – the night before Halloween.  I know were were cutting it close, but when you live in the country, no one comes over to see your carved pumpkins anyway! 

The kids had a good time and I decided to carve the pumpkin I had bought for dinner.  Then then next night I cooked it in the oven with the meat inside.  The holes were small enough that the meat stayed inside. It was also kinda fun to watch it cook!  Here it is before – I don’t have a picture of it after I cooked it – should have thought of that!

Here are all the kids and their creations.  They love carving pumpkins!

And finally, the finished products!  In order from left: Brooke’s, Kaydra’s, Kanyon’s, and Miranda’s.

Halloween 2012

October always marks the anniversary of my blog.  I started blogging five years ago and I am so glad I did.  Every year I print the years entries on Blurb.com in a 7 x 7 hardbound book.  It is so fun to have a collection of them now.  I am not very consistent but I always have a little record of the year and of the most important things that happened.  I am not good at keeping a journal – so this is it.  I hope that someday, my kids will cherish the work I have put in to this. 

Enough about that!  This year we did things a little backwards.  We took pictures of the kids in costumes before the ward Trunk or Treat/Harvest Festival.  That way you can see them without all their coats and boots on!  Actually, this year, Halloween was really warm.  We wore jackets but we were not all bundled up.  I think it was 58 degrees.  That is unheard of for Idaho at Halloween.  We weren’t complaining!  Anyway,  on with the pictures.  This year we sported a witch, a mummy, a pirate, and a bumblebee. 

Don’t they make those costumes look great?!!