Kelly Creek Camping Trip

Every year the Regional Single Adults hold a conference in Coeur d’Alene in July.  We are instructed to go to church somewhere else.  We decided to take advantage of the one weekend in the summer that we didn’t have commitments at church and go on a family campout.  I have fond memories of having family church at the cabin growing up and wanted a taste of that for my own kids.  (FYI, the church doesn’t really let you do that anymore, but we thought we could still have a family testimony meeting out in the woods!) 

So, we packed up the truck and a whole lot of stuff and headed out to Kelly Creek on the Idaho/Montana boarder.  It is beautiful up there!  I had never been there but Leonard and his family have talked about this place for as long as I have known them.  I am glad we finally found enough time to go and take the kids.  I was a little leery being 6 1/2 months pregnant with a 2 year-old.  The last time I went camping with a 2 year old (Miranda) it was a very, very long couple of  nights; but, I was in good company with Sara, who was 7 1/2 months pregnant and their son, Bridger, who was 17 months. 

We arrived to find a great camping spot with lots of space for everyone – including a few billion mosquitos.  We set up camp and Leonard and his Dad hunted for firewood and came back with huckleberry bushes! (firewood too)  Len said he could smell them before he could see them.   We also discovered that we had about 2 ounces of mosquito repellant for all 17 of us.  I did not want to be eaten alive all weekend nor have my kids be eaten all weekend so it was decided that Leonard and Neil would go for a “drive” and buy more repellant.  It was, unfortunately, about an hour each way to the nearest town.  Leonard must really love me – or love to go on drives in the middle of the woods (a little of both, I think!)

The kids played in the river and we cooked dinner in the fire while they were gone.  The fire seemed to keep the mosquitos at bay and we had a great evening.  One of my fears, camping with a 2-year-old, never came to fruition.  At about 8:30 Timber came to me and said, “Pass – ni-night”  Which in Timber language means, “I am tired.  I want my pacifier and to be put to bed.”  So I took her to our tent, showed her her sleeping bag, tucked her in ---- and ---- she went to sleep!!  HUH!?  Who does that?  She was like that all weekend.  When she was tired and ready for bed or nap, she would come tell me and then she would go to sleep.  It was by far, the best camping-with-a-2-year-old trip I have ever had.  Awesome!

We were able to do lots of fun things.  We picked huckleberries, swam in the river, cooked over the fire, did some fly fishing (a bit), and saw some beautiful country.  We also had our testimony meeting around the fire on Sunday morning.  We came home happy, healthy, and with only a few mosquito bites.  We also came home with 26 cups of huckleberries – these big kids are starting to pay off a little bit and earn their keep!  Timberlyn and Bridger were so cute eating berries off the bushes as fast a they could.  Purple fingertips were everywhere!  

I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have, but here are a few to remember the trip!

I hope we can do it again next year!

Happy 2nd Birthday Timberlyn!

My baby turned 2 this summer!  Seems like we just brought her home from the hospital.  I am starting to realize how fast time starts to go as my kids get older.  When Kaydra and Kanyon were just little, and before they started school, it seemed like they would be little forever.  Now, all I do is blink and another year has flown by. 

We had banana splits for her birthday.  I haven’t had one of those for so long and they are so good!  We made a strawberry cake and cut it into small pieces to go with the splits.  We had ice cream, caramel, chocolate syrup, strawberry jam, whipped cream, and sprinkles.  And of course bananas.  They were yummy. 

She didn’t want her picture taken at first.

Miranda had to show her what to do….

Then she warmed up a bit!

What a cute, big girl!!

She had fun blowing out her candles which was good.  Last year she cried when we sang to her.  She loved to open the presents.  It was a good night and fun to share with family and cousins.

Happy Birthday, little princess!

Summer Days

I haven’t blogged at all this summer.  My blogging always correlates with my picture taking and that hasn’t been very good this summer either.  I am going to try to write a few things since we actually had a great summer and I want to remember it some day.  I really should blog more often. 

The summer came in loud and clear after the kids were out of school.  The Throckmortons showed up to LIVE in Coeur d’Alene about a week later.  The kids were so exited to have cousins to play with just down the road.  We made it a daily schedule to fit in a trip to the lake.  We seriously went almost every single day.  That is THE best part about being in Coeur d’Alene in the summer – Honestly.  We made a couple early summer trips floating down the Coeur d’Alene river in inner tubes.  It was awesome.  The water is cold but the sun is warm and the combination is just perfect.  Wish I had pictures!

The 4th of July brought the Stephans to visit as well.  We managed to fit in a trip to Silverwood and a bike ride on the Hiawatha trail.  We also held the 2nd ever FTS Olympic games in which all the adult couples compete for a coveted trophy – or compete to NOT lose because the loser plans the next games!  Either way, Leonard and I won the games and we have the trophy sitting on our mantle for anyone to see.   Again, no pictures.  I know that there are several pictures out there so hopefully I will snag a few before this blog entry gets published! 

The kids put on their own little carnival with all the cousins here complete with face painting, a fish pond, carnival games, and a water fight.  They also had cotton candy, snow cones, and a bunch of toys to give away at the end.  Good times with fun family! 

Miranda learned how to use the camera and so there are a bunch of random pictures on mine.  None of them have anything to do with any of the activities that I talked about – but they will have to do because it’s all I have. 

Kaydra’s Honors Assembly

Last Friday was the Honors assembly at Kaydra’s middle school.  They honor all the kids that have a GPA of 3.0 or higher and they give away prizes by random drawing to those kids who qualify.  The higher your GPA, the better chance you have of winning a prize.  They call it, “It pays to get A’s”.  Love it!  We received a call last week that Kaydra was getting a special award at this ceremony – it was a surprise for her though.  First, they award certificates to the kids based on their GPA.  My camera isn’t very good at far away shots, but here she is getting her certificate for her 4.0 GPA and standing with the other 6th graders who also got 4.0.

Pretty great!  Then, each 6th grade teacher is asked to select one person from their class who deserves special recognition.  They give a short speech on why this person deserves this award.  Kaydra’s teacher, Mr. Couser, who teaches her Advanced Language Arts and Advanced Math class, selected her.  He gave a very complimentary speech of our little girl.  We are so proud of her!  I’ll try to post the video of him, but I also transcribed what he said because a video won’t work when I put this in a book later.

“There are so many qualified and exceptional young ladies and men at this school. But, this person beyond being kind, and courteous, and thoughtful, and helpful, and magnanimous (yes, that’s a vocabulary word) That in my Advanced Language Arts class and Advanced Math class this person for the second semester had the highest scores of the year in both classes.  And on the ISAT tests, combined with Lanuage Arts, Reading, and Math, had the highest scores at Lakes Middle School.  And last week when we had our Advanced Language Arts activity on applying for a teaching position, Mr. Bangston, our infamous principle selected this lady as the top candidate. So, our HIGH FIVE award goes to Kaydra FitzSimmons!”
--Mr. Couser, Lakes Middle School
Leonard was able to get an hour off work so he could come.  He brought her flowers.  On top of everything, she was also picked for the prize drawing.  She won some Skull Candy headphones and a candy bar!


Good job, Kaydra.  You are amazing!

Oh Baby!

Timberlyn’s Belly Button

Many of you know that Timberlyn has had a herniated belly button since birth.  We have known that we would probably have to fix it some day.  We initially had hope that it would fix itself, but that was not to be.  We took her in for a follow up visit to the surgeon and he said, “It’s time to fix it – this thing isn’t going to go away on it’s own.”  And what a thing it was!

We have gotten plenty of stares and odd looks, and many questions about her weird belly button.  She also liked to play with it and show it off.  Leonard called it her second nose!  It really looked a lot like Gonzo’s nose (from the muppets).  Especially when she is mad!

Here she is on surgery day.   April 29, 2013

A final shot before they took her back.  Believe me, it could get much bigger than this!

They gave her some versed to drink and Leonard and I think that it should be provided for emergency (like long car rides)  for anyone with children.  It was awesome.  She was goofy and happy, playing with Leonard’s face.  It was pretty funny to watch her.  Then they took her back to the OR.  Leonard went with her – they don’t let pregnant women back there – and she drifted off to sleep with the mask of sleepy drug.  The whole thing took about 45 minutes.  It’s scary to send your child off to surgery with a bunch of strangers.  I hope I rarely have to do that in my lifetime.  She was well taken care of though and there were no problems. 

She was very sleepy that day and slept on the couch when we got home for the rest of the afternoon.  She woke up sad and obviously sore, I gave her some Motrin and an hour or so later she was running around with the kids and laughing.  WHAT?  I couldn’t believe it.  She is one tough cookie.  You could tell when the medication wore off as she would get tearful and say, “OW” while rubbing her tummy, but the Motrin worked great for her. 

Update: June 3, 2013

Four weeks later, you’d never know she had surgery.  No complaints or problems.  The doctor is happy with the results, and although her belly button will never be “normal” it is SO much better!  For a while, when you would ask her where her belly button was, Timber would hold up her hands and say, “Uh – Ahhh”  Which in Timber talk means “All Gone!”  She wasn’t sure what happened to it.  Now she just points and shows us her new belly button.  She seems to be a little more shy about showing it off.  Funny because it was so strange before and she loved to show everyone, now that it is more normal, she doesn’t like to share!

Not too bad for only 4 weeks later.  Dr. Torgenson, her surgeon, said that it will continue to get smaller over 6 weeks and then a little bit over the next year.  Plus as she gets bigger, the extra skin that is there from being stretched out will disappear.  All in all, we call it a success.  You can’t even see the scar from the surgery.  Pretty amazing for a pretty amazing girl!!  Love you Timberlyn!