The Rimington Family Blog

Purely Sinful

2012-02-16T14:30:00.004-07:00

Sinfully Delightful, that is.

Yup, these babies are in THAT category.

John loves Oreos, so I thought this would be the perfect Valentine's treat for him - Oreo Truffles. They were fairly simple to make - Oreos in food processor, then mixed with cream cheese, rolled into balls, chilled, dipped in melted chocolate, and divine richness is made.

Rice...or is it?

2012-02-12T22:42:00.002-07:00

Question of the Day: Rice in Bowl #1. Rice in Bowl #2, or is it?

I am trying something new with my food choices. I have been counting my points on and off again for the past 11 years - ever since Kimberly was born and the dreaded body changes of having babies set in.

I still remember after having Kimberly and wondering what that extra blubber was on my guttal region. In fact, I seriously thought it was somehow related to the c-section, so it would magically disappear on it's own.

No siree. It did not disappear on it's own. I even had the gall to ask my male doctor at my 6-week follow-up if it was just a side-affect from the surgery, or if it was indeed, F-A-T. He nonchalantly informed me that yes, it was indeed, Fat. I would like to think a female doctor would have been a little more kind about the bad news.

I attribute it to all those chocolates they delivered to my office the December I was in my last trimester of her pregnancy, oh, and of course, February too. Sadly, the extra 40 pounds gained from that pregnancy, only 10 decided to remove themselves from my frame. The other 30 or so I had to fight off by counting my food points. Every, single, ugly, point. Even apples were a point at the time! And I only had a few points a day to spare. Remember, I had to save points for my bowl of Cheerios before bed - that and my buttery bowl of popcorn after dinner.

Fast forward 11 years, and I am still counting points and fighting every pound that tries to demand it's way into my life. I dream of the pre-pregnancy days when food was all a luxury, with nary a worry about how many points, calories, or fat content landed their way onto my mouth-watering taste buds.

Alas, counting points did their job. I have to thank weight watchers for helping me out with all 4-post pregnancy fattage moments. I have hit a point though where counting points has not helped the 'muffin-top' that is the bain of many a women's guttals, including mine.

I am determined to get my pre-pregnancy tummy back. You know I'm determined when I considered looking into cutting back on my carbs, something I have never - Never - NeVeR even considered because I love me some potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread - the very essentials of every single dinner meal in our home. Mashed potatoes are my absolute favorite side dish - I'll even eat them for lunch.

When I moved out of my folks house way back when, they couldn't figure out why there were always so many mashed potatoes left over after dinner, and the fact that no one ate the leftovers from the fridge either. It was then they realized I was the sole eater of leftover potatoes, and I really did have several helpings of the stuff at dinner. I even beat my brother-in-law Justin in a mashed potato-eating contest - and he Loves the stuff too!

Okay, so this has turned into a reeaaallly long epistle about carbs - I really, and I mean really, had no intention of going on and on about this, but then again, you guys do remember I am a writer, right?

So, back to the rice and rice-look-alike picture. I decided last week after doing quite a bit of research about carbs, that I would cut back on the stuff. All of the bad ones anyway, and eat the foods that will actually work for me, not against me, which is what a lot of the bad carbs do - yup, they sit on our thighs, guts, and bums, just jamming away storing the fat your bod thinks it so badly needs. Well, okay, it needs fat, just not the pooch on my belly that rolls out over my jeans.

So, enter cali-rice!! While the rest of my clan enjoyed their hawaiian haystacks with rice, I enjoyed it with the most delicious cauliflower rice - it was actually quite tasty, something I didn't expect. I liked it so much, I had the leftovers for lunch the next day, and I'm looking forward to my next cali-rice dish!

Okay, it's not always as exciting as it's cracked up to be. Tonight, we had roast, carrots, potatoes, and my mother-in-law's famous muffins (which by the way mom, we make every Sunday with our dinners because they're so good), and I had to bypass the oh-so-yummy muffins and potatoes in favor of....cottage cheese. I know, not the most yummy replacement, but it is what it is.

We'll see how it goes, but so far, I'm seeing improvement. My goal is to stick with it for 6 weeks and see if I can tell a difference. Who knows, I might just get addicted to the cauliflower rice. Oh, and I did give up my Cheerios for breakfast in favor of a special low-carb, high protein Special K cereal. It's not too bad, but I very much miss my Cheerios. I think I'm looking forward to having those back even more than potatoes.

In the words of Tony from Power 90, Bring it on!

What I've Been Up To

2012-02-09T16:58:00.005-07:00

I've been writing a lot of stories of late - thank you to my editor for sending them my way.

I've also been practicing the piano every spare minute I have preparing for some trumpeters I'm accompanying at solo & ensemble in a few weeks. I can't decide if I like the challenge or detest the difficult pieces. I started out in the detesting mode, but John called it and I am now starting to enjoy the challenge, especially now that the pieces are coming together.

Kimberly and I made it up skiing to Brighton resort last Saturday - fun times, especially now that there is snow in Utahland. I remember how much I love skiing every time I get onto the slopes, and Kimberly seems to love it just as much as I do, if not more.

The girls have been busy with craft projects, as usual. This time, they decided to paint on the pieces of ice they found in the yard. So clever!

That's it for now. Hope ya'll are doing well!

Who Knew Rhea Would Lead Us to This Dream Location?

2012-01-29T18:40:00.008-07:00

John has been busy with his Peregrine Falcon of late. It's flying season, so he and Kimberly have been out flying her in the front yard, but she's quickly outgrown that flying area and was just itching to stretch her wings for some longer flights, so John got permission to use some fields about a half mile east of where we live.

Rhea is trained enough that John has been able to fly her without a creance (kind of like a really long bird leash). So our clan decided to join up with John for one of the flying sessions. John started walking...

and walking...

and walking...

until he was finally far enough away to have her fly to him, which she did with perfect grace!

To reward her for her valiant flying abilities, John took her to the annual bird reunion with other falconers where she got to meet up with all her bird friends -

That's Rhea in the bottom left corner. We had fun checking out the different birds, including the owls, which are always my favorite.

Screech Owl

Great Horned Owl

So, back to that awesome field John was flying his bird in - he became friends with the previous owners of the field, who told him that the fields will only be available for a few more years because they are now owned by a developer who plans to build houses there in the next 3 to 5 years. Build? Houses? In our dream area? Just two streets north of my dream street many of you have heard me talking about - a dream street of which is sadly probably out of our price range because they are all half to full acre lots with tons of large trees - but one can still dream, right?

When we heard a builder is planning to build in this area, which is still in our stake, and in the same school boundaries for all three schools (remember I said it is only about a half mile east of our current location), our interest was peaked, especially since we have talked about possibly moving in...drum roll please...exactly 3 to 5 years, exactly the same amount of time the developer is planning on.

I made a phone call to Layton City and got the name of the developer, who has begun work further west just off of Fairfield, and told me that yes, they do plan on developing further east towards Boynton, but not for a few more years. He sounded very apologetic, but I was thrilled, because we need a few more years to eek a little more equity out of this home.

We are already on a somewhat unofficial list for first pick of the lots in phase three. They are currently just starting to build houses in phase 1, and have just barely finished the approval process with Layton City for Phase 2, but they won't be starting in on Phase 3 until they are done selling the lots in both of the first phases.

We'll see how it all pans out. I'll be the first one to admit that some of our best laid plans haven't always gone the way we envisioned. We'll see what the future holds, especially since change is really, Really hard for me. We've been in this house for 12 years and have made many dear friends here, and let's be honest, I love our mortgage payment. We've also had some beautiful remodeling projects done in this house. Why would we want to change all of that?

We agreed when we moved in that we would probably only stay for about 10 years. We have been happy here, so we have continued to stay, but one thing we're discovering is that we are itching for a little more yard space and a slightly different floor plan. But like I said, we'll see what the future holds for us.

For several years we had planned and saved for a Dodge Intrepid, thinking that would definitely be the car for us...that is, until we actually test drove one when we were ready to purchase a second car, and we hated the design! We quickly made some new plans and found a car we both really liked - the Mitsubishi Galant, a car that lasted us for 10 years. So, we may plan and dream for the next several years, and come to find that our actual plans may be very different. Until then, I am free to dream away...

Some Funnies

2012-01-22T18:15:00.004-07:00

John and I braved the snowstorm last night and drove to down town Salt Lake for some yummy P.F. Chang's and some funny laughs watching Brian Regan at Abravanel Hall. I have never seen him perform before, but I've had many a person tell me he is hilarious - and clean - a hard combination to come across.

Trust me, we've been to Wise Guy comedy enough times to know that most comedians aren't very clean. They need to take some lessons from this guy and see that it is possible to get a packed house roaring with laughter for an entire show with nary a vulgarity or inappropriate reference.

Dounut-y Progress

2012-01-15T17:06:00.003-07:00

We got a mini doughnut maker for Christmas. We have made several deliciously yummy batches with it. The other day, we devoured some chocolate ones.

Before

After

And what yummy doughnut doesn't deserve some fresh sprinkles on top?

On a not-so-related note, progress is being made on the basement...the end is finally near!!

Heading down the stairs. To the right is our food storage/furnace room. Straight ahead is where Kimberly's room will be and the door to the left is headed into the den/family room area and a couple of small storage rooms.

Heading into the den - all dry-walled, and the first coating of mud done (well, partly).

all the way into the den area (I'm standing in one of the storage rooms to take the picture, in case you were wondering where those were at) Hidden from view is a closet to the right for all the toys that have had free-reign in the basement until now :)

And here's a picture of Kimberly's closet - I know, fancy, schmancy, huh?

As soon as the mudding is done, we'll be able to paint and lay carpet. See? Told you we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Can I tell you just how excited I am to be painting soon? *Can you hear the hint of sarcasm in my voice?

No really, it will be fun.

My Tall, Dark Secret in the Closet

2012-01-03T14:00:00.007-07:00

I have a problem. A rather large, growing pile of a problem in my closet. I am finally admitting that I have a problem and sharing it with you today.

It has only become a problem because I fear the pile may fall over eventually on some unsuspecting 2-year-old. That, and Kimberly keeps asking when I plan on taking care of the newspapers. John? He doesn't think anything of the newspaper pile because he's used to my attempts of making a leaning tower of pisa with our daily newspapers.

I have yet to reach the top of the ceiling in the closet, but don't worry, I'll get there eventually.

Can you see that I am an avid proponent of recycling? I wish Layton would get on the bandwagon and implement a recycling program, but alas, until then, I have to drag them myself to the grocery store recycle bins, which by the way were overly stuffed today. Guess everyone else had the same idea as me.

Wanna guess how far back those newspapers go? April '11. No truly, I do it so that I can continue being the neighborhood supplier of newspapers for everyone's Easter egg dying and pumpkin carving sessions. Really. I get several calls every time. Now that I've recycled that whole stack today, I guess I better get back to saving because Easter is just around the corner.

Totally off the topic, but here's another cute picture of Megan.

For some reason, she keeps insisting that her purse is really a hat. She cracks me up.

And in other news, this is just one section of the roof John had to repair this last week.

I really, Really beg to differ with what the insurance adjuster quoted us. $800 measly bucks (okay, technically $1300, but we got $800 after they put in our deductible). For this? And all the other sections John spent all week patching up? We really, Really could have used a new roof, but alas, it was not in the cards for us, so we will be saving up our own pennies and re-roofing the entire thing in the warmer months of this year or the next. Lucky John. You know being on the roof is one of his least favorite activities.

I can finally share with you...

2011-12-26T10:53:00.007-07:00

...all of the Christmas gifts we've been working like mad on this month for the family members we were in charge of.

Stores sell these wooden blocks for $19 per set. We bought the wood for 4 sets at a beautiful $6 price. John cut them out and all 6 of us sanded them like mad one night. Then John and I spent a couple of hours painting them all. Once dry, I got to decorate them, which was my favorite part.

I sewed up this car play mat for the nieces and nephews of the families we did this year. I hunted down this fabric for days and couldn't find it at any of our local fabric stores. John swooped in and saved the day by finding the fabric on ebay. Thanks dear.

I decided to crochet up some washcloths and sew up some hot pads for our parents and grandmas. I will definitely be making more washcloths in the future. I will definitely NOT be sewing this particular hot pad again. They took me hours to do. I'll find an easier version for next time.

I decorated these frames for my mom and grandma. Now I want one.

And last, but most certainly not least...I just have to share with you the cute bears John's mom made for the girls. They love them and they are so cute and cuddly!

Keep reading to my next post about our Christmas Day fun :)

Christmas Fun

2011-12-26T10:28:00.007-07:00

Merry Christmas to all of you! We had a lovely day, even with church smack-dab in the middle of our normal day's festivities. We did stockings and strings at 7 a.m. before getting ready for our 9 a.m. church, then came home and unwrapped the presents from under the tree.

The three older girls all got scooters at the end of their string. Alicia captured all of their emotions - can you say, pure bliss?

We have not allowed scooters for the girls because we thought they were slightly dangerous. we still think that, but after one broken back from sledding, a crazy bike crash, and considering the fact that our girls are already riding all of their friends' scooters on a daily basis anyway, it was time to get them their own. They may be the only ones wearing helmets while riding scooters in the neighborhood, but that was our one concession to allowing them to ride the things.

This cute gal got a wiggle car at the end of her string. You see that sucker bottle in her hand? She would not let go of it and sucked on it ALL day (other than church and her nap). I think it was her most favorite present.

The RC cars we got all 4 girls were a hit. They've been racing them almost non-stop for two days now.

We have been really slow this year getting to some of our traditions, including gingerbread houses. We did them on Christmas Eve, then proceeded on to the Layton park lights for our usual Christmas Eve night activity.

Now this week we will be focusing on recuperating, sleeping in, consuming yummy Christmas treats, NOT exercising or dieting, avoiding the after-Christmas shopping, and most of all for John and I...NOT working (that is, I hope I don't get a call from my editor this week...I'm taking a self-imposed vacation).

**slight addendum** John has just reminded me that we are all working on the basement this week. It is coming along nicely with John all done with hanging dry wall in Kimberly's room - this week he will be hanging dry wall in the den area, and it sounds like I get to help mud up Kimberly's room. Should be fun, right?

Happy Holidays to you all! Thanks for reading our blog. I sure enjoy reading all of yours. I am especially thankful for technology that allows us to keep in touch with family and friends nowadays. We thoroughly enjoyed Skyping with most of our family members yesterday - it was a gift in and of itself being able to see and chat with family as if we were sitting in the same room together.

Love, the Rimingtons

Hello, and Good Bye.

2011-12-19T15:41:00.005-07:00

I just said goodbye to my mom who is flying back to Seattle this evening, and now I am in mourning. Therapy calls for a blog post of the fun things we got to do with her over the last 5 days. We had such a wonderful time.

We visited downtown Salt Lake where we saw the lights on temple square and rode the train across town to the gingerbread house festival at Gateway.

Mom had fun with the girlies doing different craft projects, cookies, and even...

...helped Alicia with her Christmas song on the piano. I am ashamed to admit I had completely forgotten my mom knew how to play the piano because once Christy and I surpassed her skills, she stopped playing.

So now we go back to telephone visiting until the next get-together, which for now isn't scheduled until July. I love Utah, but sometimes its hard to live so far away from my mom and siblings, who all live in different states. At least we're all west of the Colorado river.

I have got a story for you...

2011-12-07T14:16:00.004-07:00

My fellow readers, who I know are my dear friends and family members - I have finished typing up my notes of the interview I had with that German gal who grew up during WWII in Eastern Germany and was able to escape after the war - it is truly an inspiring story.

She has given me permission to share her story, provided I do not include her name. If you would be interested in a copy of her story, I will gladly email it to you. It's not too terribly long - only 3 1/2 typed pages, so you're not out a ton of reading time. I promise it will be a read you will never forget, and will be forever engrained in your mind.

Just leave your email address in the comment section and I will send it to you.

Blown Away

2011-12-06T12:38:00.006-07:00

Last Thursday was an eventful windstorm with record winds as high as 100 mph. School was cancelled due to no power, entire trees were downed, wood fences crumpled, shingles scattered everywhere on the ground, trampolines in the wrong backyards, siding melted off sides of houses - and this was just in our neighborhood!

After retrieving my daughters from their 20-minute day of school, shortest day of school on record for them so far, we holed up in the house while the storm raged around us. The forceful winds just pounded into our garage door and was even pushing the front door so hard, I had to dead bolt it to keep it from getting blown open.

I went out to take down the flag and could hardly stand up straight and was fearful of all the debris flying around. Closing the garage door was almost impossible with each wind gust pushing the garage door back up when I returned from picking up the girls.

My neighbor across the street called to tell me her wood fence had fallen down. While chatting with her on the phone and watching the storm rage from my front window, I noticed my other neighbor's shingles were flying off her roof like loose paper! I had my friend I was chatting with on the phone look over to my house, and she said I had several patches ready to fly off as well!

The storm finally settled down about mid-morning, but the aftermath was ridiculous throughout the neighborhood. John was out of town, so this is what he got to come home to...

My loving neighbor came over and got on the roof to assess our damage and covered up some of the really bad sections - thank goodness, because it snowed that night.

John spent a good chunk of Saturday up on the roof putting new shingles on. Just what he wanted to be doing in December with temperatures below freezing.

Our chimney cap even blew off in the storm. Good thing some of our neighbors on the street behind us retrieved it so we could get it put back on.

All-in-all, we fared pretty well, considering the damage that many other neighbors experienced. Thank goodness for insurance, though this time, we didn't sustain enough damage to warrant a new roof (shucks darn, because we need a new one in the next couple of years!).

On Sunday, we were expected to get another really bad wind storm with winds up to 70 mph, so not as bad as the first one, but pretty serious. There was still a lot of debris throughout the neighborhood, and trees still downed. During church, it was announced that the ox was in the mire and a work group was put together right after church to go around and clean up all of the debris so it wouldn't be flying around in the storm.

John and the older two girls set out with the trailer and got to work cleaning up one of our neighbor's trees. John said the lineup to the dump was outrageously long because everyone else was doing the same thing.

The second storm didn't end up arriving, but at least the neighborhood is cleaned up, families are getting their houses assessed by their insurance companies, or like us, doing the work themselves and getting everything back in order. I'm so grateful John is able and willing to get on the roof to fix it for our clan as I am devastatingly afraid of being on the roof.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Newish Roof!

Some Firsts

2011-11-30T09:00:00.006-07:00

I experienced a few firsts this past week.

First up, we went down to visit one of our neighbors who has a pet python. Pet and Python really should not be in the same sentence, but it is. Wait. Maybe a pet python would be easier than a Great Dane.

I digress. Back to our firsts. This is the first time I got to see a python squeeze his dinner. Okay, so the mouse was already dead, but apparently it's just engrained in them to squeeze the living daylights out of their meal first.

So here she is squeezing away. Then the main event was underway - watching her gulp down the mouse. Simply fascinating!

Next up, my first time ever doing a french braid in Alicia's hair that actually looked good! Working with all the different strands makes my hands shake just thinking about it, but they're learning to get the hang of it, so for one of Alicia's choral collection performances, I did her hair up nice and fancy.

These pictures are actually the ones I took for Alicia at her request so she could see what the back looked like.

And lastly on the list of firsts for the week, I made homemade egg rolls for the first time. After spending a fortune on the pre-made ones at the store, I decided I would give these a try. They are amazingly easy to make, especially if you bake them like I did rather than frying, and they were surprisingly delicious!

Kimberly helped me put the egg rolls together.

Of course Shenzie wanted to know what we were making.

And Wa-La! The final product with some sweet and sour sauce. Delicious.

If you are interested in trying them, here is the recipe I used:

1 lb. pork
1 package egg roll wraps
1 bag shredded cabbage and carrot mix
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg (beaten, for sealing the rolls)

Fry up the pork. Mix together the cooked pork, cabbage and carrot mixture. Season with 1 tablespoon of oil, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Follow the instructions on the back of the egg roll package for rolling up and use the egg to seal the final edge.

I decided to bake the egg rolls per the instructions on the package because it would save me time. They were fabulous! I may just be making them again in the near future.

Our Houseguest for the Week

2011-11-27T15:45:00.004-07:00

Meet Shenzie, Justin & Heather's (John's brother and wife) Great Dane. She will be with us for a grand total of 9 days.

Most of you probably know I am not a dog-lover, so this is going out on a limb for me.
However, we've set up an exchange of services - our watching their dog for a week while they are at Disneyland in exchange for a weekend of watching our girls so we can go to Vegas. Who do you think will get the better end of the deal?

Megan adores her, and given Shenzie's large size, I'm surprised she doesn't intimidate Megan. However, the two are practically inseparable. So cute.

Shenzie is really a sweet dog and she has had a ball here. The whole family has smothered her with love - yes, even me.

In fact, most surprising to us has been her favoring me over John, who is the dog lover around here. Go figure!?!

Last night, Shenzie wanted to be where I was, so she plopped down in my rather smallish kitchen while I was cooking dinner. Can I just say that it was a tad difficult maneuvering around her :)

Of course Megan came over to join us.

We have taken Shenzie on some walks where we have had several people stop and ask us about our 'horse'. She is certainly a large dog, but ever-so-lovable. I may just be willing to watch her again. I never in a million years thought I would say that.

See - told you they are the best of friends. Shenzie even lets Megan sit on her - though when I caught Megan doing this, I quickly took a picture, then got her off the poor dog.

Anyway, I still hold my ground on never wanting to own a dog. Pigs will need to fly before that happens.

Change is Good Right?

2011-11-21T16:33:00.005-07:00

I have such a hard time with change, but it was time for our ward to have another change apparently. Four and a half years ago, we were split off into a brand new ward in our stake. It took some time, but we all became friends and it was a lovely ward. Last night, we found out that we are loosing several streets and lo-and-behold, adding several streets from our old ward!

Thankfully, ward boundaries do not define my friendships, and thanks to good old facebook, it's a lot easier to keep up with everyone. I am confident our new ward friends will become a loving ward where we can feel unified, though I will need to be patient as it generally takes a year or two for that to happen.

Speaking of changes, I was thinking earlier this week about other changes. The winter season is definitely upon us, and though not my favorite season, I have loved getting up and feeling that extra nip in the air or getting all bundled up in sweatshirts and blankets to watch a movie now that it gets dark so early.

I've noticed that our habits change in the winter months. As opposed to the warmer months where we spend most of our time outside, our activities move inward during the colder months. We spend a lot of family time playing games, watching movies, and the kids have had to get extra creative of late with their activities.

One thing that has brought me great pleasure is seeing them play games together and find crafts they can work on together inside. It makes my heart happy seeing them getting along. Okay, so they don't get along all the time, but it's so nice to see those quiet moments when they are doing so.

This last week they have been making friendship bracelets up the wazoo. Kimberly also made this cute craft to-do board one afternoon - all on her own. I love that the winter months do that - bring the kids inside where they have to learn to play together and remember how to be nice.

In fact, I have to brag about Kimberly a little bit. The other night, John and I were gone, so Kimberly was babysitting. The two younger ones were in bed, so it was just Alicia and Kimberly hanging out until it was time for them to go to bed, at which point, Alicia started crying because the warts she had recently had frozen off were hurting pretty bad. Kimberly called us, and we were on our way home, but about 15 minutes away.

When we got home, we discovered the two girls up in the bathroom just chatting away. Kimberly had started talking to Alicia to keep her mind off her toes, and they ended up having a good conversation, just the two of them. Not only did it warm my heart to see Kimberly being so thoughtful to her sister, it was nice to see the two of them enjoying each others company. I hope that continues as I am so grateful for the friendships I have with my siblings.

On a complete side note, we made it Disney on Ice this year. Sadly, my Grandma Lynn, who treated us to the tickets, ended up being sick, as well as John, so we had two extra tickets. Thankfully, two of their friends were happy to use the tickets, and a saint-of-a-mother (aka me) took them all. by. myself. They had a wonderful time, as did I, but I was glad to be home under one roof where I didn't have to make sure all of my chickadees were under my wings in a crowded place.

And what would a blog post be without the latest cute picture of Megan...

My New Bed Partner

2011-11-11T14:58:00.003-07:00

I am appalled that I have let my blog lapse almost two weeks without a new blog post! Truthfully though, things have been pretty ordinarily normal around here with not too many new things to report. I am still writing stories for the local newspaper, still helping out the girls with their homework, still cleaning the house, and then cleaning the house some more after the kids follow behind me the first time around destroying anything and everything I've just picked up or cleaned.

I am also in the midst of trying to determine Christmas presents. I am shocked at how quickly the season is encroaching upon me and know if I don't get a handle on our gift plans soon, I will be drowning in seasonal fluff before I know it.

These last couple of weeks, though normal and more of the same-old, same-old, I have discovered I have a new bed-friend. John is on my right, and my heating pad lays ever-so-lovingly on my left. Now that my twenties have evaded me not-so-kindly, I have to accept my new fate: sore and aching body parts by the end of the day just waiting for me to acknowledge their pestering presence.

I dutifully ignore them until I finally slumber into my bed, at which point, they cannot be ignored any further. They adore my attention and longingly ache for my heating pad to soothe their troubles away so I can enter the dreamy sleep-filled world.

This being the month of Thanksgiving, I give thanks to my family, of course, and now, I also give thanks to my blessedly warm heating pad that helps me get to sleep pain-free before getting up in the morning in order to face a whole new set of aches that will begin forming during the day - I know they are just waiting to have a visit with my warm bed-mate each night.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T22:57:00.007-06:00

We survived another Halloween -

In case you're wondering, Kimberly is technically a Pirate Bride. Alicia is our friendly Native American aka Indian, Natalie the witch costume my mom made for me when I was that age, and Megan, the shy pumpkin.

We've been having such beautiful warm weather of late that we decided to carve our pumpkins on the back deck this time. I could seriously do that every year if the weather decided to cooperate as such.

John let Kimberly and Alicia carve their own pumpkins this year, and thankfully, no cut off fingers - though Alicia was very concerned about that as she tried carving her intricate pumpkin.

John decided to use the one dinky-sized pumpkin our garden produced in conjunction with his much larger pumpkin he retrieved at the pumpkin patch. Tasty.

Kimberly's pumpkin is her rendition of Harry Potter. She is addicted to those books.

Natalie was quite proud of the ghost she drew out on paper for daddy to duplicate on her pumpkin.

And lastly, Megan got my ever-so-clever and creative pumpkin. The girls teased me mercilessly about carving such a simple face, but alas, pumpkin carving is not one of my strong suits. I am a much better pumpkin cleaner-outer.

Also, scroll back up and on the right you'll notice that I have new pictures of the girls. Enjoy! I think they are such beautiful and delightful girls. We have been so blessed to have them enrich our lives.

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

2011-10-29T23:03:00.008-06:00

Good thing I decided to take a picture instead of getting mad.
Yes, that is diaper rash creme.
I think she was a titch upset with me here because I had the gall to disrupt her artsy party.

On a positive spin, only a few more months of diapers and diaper rash creme before potty training ensues - and let it be known, it will be our last time - that's why I'm celebrating now and counting down the months.

On a completely unrelated note, John and I attended an adult Halloween party last week. The theme this year was Holidays - we could dress up as any holiday other than Halloween. Guess what holiday we chose?

Poor John, his hat was a tad small. I thought we portrayed Thanksgiving quite well. This party was also great because we have discovered that Kimberly makes a Great babysitter! No more calling ahead of time for sitters. Now I just have to make sure no one else kipes her on the nights we need her :)

Speaking of dressing up, Natalie had a field trip with her preschool class up to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden last week. She loved dressing up.

In case you were wondering, it was an actual squirting nipple. or tit. or teet. Or whatever they're called.
This of course led to quite the discussion led by Natalie about where milk comes from as we drove home.
You can tell we are not uber-farm experts.

Fashion Update

2011-10-17T18:04:00.004-06:00

My friends continue to help educate me in the fashion world. It's a good thing too, otherwise I'd be stuck back in my old rut of t-shirts and mommy jeans.

I have updated my shirts in the past year, but had yet to update my jeans, mostly because after searching high and low years ago to find a pair of jeans that adequately fit my rather long legs and waist, I didn't think I would ever find another comfortable pair (by the way, my jean of choice? old navy. for the last 8 years or so)

Here's my new pair of jeans:

For a mere $20 at Kim's Fashions in Clearfield, the new, updated Dana jean-look. They are deliciously comfy - and long enough! and yes, these are my first pair of straight jeans in 8 years. I never thought I would return to that look.

If you have any other fashion questions, I'll direct them to my fashion gurus. they only charge a small fee.

This 'n' That 'o' Fun

2011-10-16T16:43:00.005-06:00

Finally, a post with lots of pictures!!!

Here's what we've been up to of late:

Megan had her birthday on Thursday and turned TWO!!

Umm, I think she likes cake.

I tried an idea I got off pinterest - a rainbow cake. I had just frosted the top when Kimberly decided it was too boring, so she and her friend 'livened' up the top and sides a bit.

It was really easy - just whip up a batch of white or yellow cake, divide it out into six bowls, color each a different color, pour into cake pan one at a time creating the colorful layers, cook, and then wa-la! Rainbow cake. The girls have all put in their requests for rainbow cake on their birthdays. Done!

The basement is progressing along. The bedroom and den are completely framed up, and all of the electrical wires and lights are put in. Thanks to John's dad's help, the electrical box has also been replaced. That was an all-day task with no power.

Now John is working on putting in the heat registers and rerouting the heat ducting. It can sure get a little loud around here when he's drilling into the heat exchange (I think that's what it is called). It's cute to see Megan and Natalie quickly covering their ears when it starts.

We found out Alicia is far-sighted and needs glasses to read. So far, so good in the headache department. She was getting them far too regularly. P.S. Don't always trust the school vision screenings. They did not catch her eye problems. In fact, I should probably take Kimberly in for that matter. Our kids are doomed in the glasses department with both John and I having glasses.

With all the warm weather of late, John has been able to finish the front part of the walkway on the side of the house - you know, that part of the yard that gets constantly trampled and the grass has no hope for staying alive - yah, that part of the lawn. It looks so much better now, and we'll hopefully be able to finish back behind the gate if the weather continues to stay nice into this week.

Don't worry, John has put us all to work too. We have gotten very good at hauling the pavers around and unloading the dirt from the trailer at the dump site.

We also made it out for our annual pumpkin patch trip to retrieve pumpkins. We always hop on board for the hay ride and even better, it was a beautiful day for it yesterday.

I think that's it for now. You are officially caught up on our lives. Well, most of it anyway.
Until next time - adieu!

Interview of a Lifetime

2011-10-12T12:48:00.007-06:00

Over the course of my career as a freelance journalist for a couple of local newspapers, I've done hundreds of interviews. Out of those, I have a handful of truly memorable ones. Just recently though, I had the interview of a lifetime.

My hour and a half-long chat with a dainty and sweet 76-year-old will forever be imprinted in my mind. I heard about her story over a year ago from my sister in Oregon. I finally have the time to delve into such a fascinating story, so my sister asked permission from her friend to give me her phone number so I could chat with her mother, who just so happens to live in Utah of all places! Just an hour south of where I live!

Let me share with you my experience and a fraction of the enthralling interview:

As we sat down, we delved back into a time in history when I, as an American, was the enemy, while she, as a young school girl living in Eastern Germany during WWII, was fighting for her life.

Quite literally, she would run home from school screaming whenever a plane flew too low as she raced for a nearby bush to hide in. She even wondered why she bothered going to school since she knew she would probably end up dying during the war anyway. For someone experiencing air raids regularly at night, this doesn't sound surprising.

Sometimes the air raids would go off several times at night, which made it especially difficult for my interviewee's mom to get seven young kids dressed by herself and over to the bomb shelter in time, as her husband had been drafted by the Nazis. Eventually, they just started going to bed fully dressed with their shoes on so they could run out immediately to the bomb shelter located across the street when they heard the sirens.

Here was a woman who grew up in a communist life where a sole piece of bread was handed out in the morning, and she knew it was all she would receive for sustenance until the next morning.

She was quick to inform me that everyone's story is different - but for those who lived during the time of WWII in Eastern Germany and later those living in the oppression of the Russian rule in the aftermath, and then later when the Berlin Wall was erected, they all knew what it meant to live a life with no laughter. She told me that to this day, she doesn't laugh very often because for so much of her life, there wasn't anything to laugh about, so she grew into a woman who is very private about her life.

My interviewee was eventually able to escape from Eastern Germany with her family in a harrowing trip by train to some refugee camps before they eventually made their way to the United States.

Hers is a story of true and utter triumph. At the end of our chat, when I asked her what she has taken away from such a harrowing experience, she became teary for the first time in the interview and said this in her thick German accent:

"My surroundings have made my character. I would never want to trade my life because I learned to get by with little and I learned to just make do and to appreciate things in a way that no one else can ever understand, unless you've been there."

Here was a woman who is quiet, shy, and humble, as she told me repeatedly before we met that her story wasn't very interesting and that she didn't have much to share. As I sat dumbfounded listening to story after story of her experiences growing up, I knew she was not giving herself nearly enough credit.

In fact, she is intensely private about her story, and requested I not use her name. She has even turned down BYU, who has wanted to interview her countless times. I was honored she trusted me enough to share her priceless story, one I will most certainly never forget.

You are probably wondering what I am going to do now with my notes from such an incredible interview. Frankly, so am I. I am not a book-writer, nor have I ever wanted to write one. That is until now, when I have such an incredible story to share. I may do just that. Just not anytime soon. Ask me about it in a couple of years.

Until then, I will hold in my memory the interview of someone who suffered so much and came out on the other side a better person. May I learn from her example and remember her when I suffer my own trials.

Our Journey Into the World of ODD

2011-10-04T17:13:00.010-06:00

Here is my sweet, kind-hearted, generous, and loving second daughter, Alicia, who is nine-years-old. She is always the first one with a hug, a compliment, or a sweet note.

Starting last January though, our frustrations with her were beginning to mount. There were ever-increasing moments of strained parenting and I would lie awake at night wondering what I was doing wrong.

My emotional energy was being sapped as I tried to pin-point what could possibly be causing the countless tantrums, emotional melt-downs, and endless arguments, and wondering why what had worked with our oldest daughter wasn't working with Alicia.

Even more pressing was the concern we had about Alicia's school work. She was falling further and further behind in school and we were getting worried. They put her in some special reading and math groups at school, which helped, but she was still falling way behind with her testing. We tried scouting around for specialized reading and tutor programs to try and help her, but nothing felt right.

We were out of options. The only problem was, we didn't know what the problem was in the first place, so we didn't know how to go about fixing such an elusive problem. At this point, I went back to Alicia's teacher and told her we had been unsuccessful in finding a program that would work for her, at which point she suggested Alicia have the school do one of their all-around testing things.

We readily agreed and before we knew it, I was filling out packets of paperwork, and she was being tested by the school psychologist, the resource teacher, the reading specialist, and her own teacher. Finally, after a long month wait, the school was done and we received the results. It was such a relief to finally have some answers and some further guidance and direction.

We found out she didn't have any learning disorders and she had an average IQ, which meant she shouldn't be having so much trouble in school. The only thing that cropped up was the possibility for ADHD and/or ODD, at which point we were directed to her pediatrician and a child-psychologist, who did some testing and discovered she did not have ADHD, but did have Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or ODD for short.

I had no idea what it was, or what it meant, so I checked out a bunch of books at the library. For so long I had thought Alicia would simply 'grow-out' of her mood issues and temper tantrums. I learned something valuable from the books I read - children with ODD don't simply 'grow-out' of it - you have to learn how to work with it, things that I was doing completely wrong.

Basically, ODD is a mood-disorder where people have a hard time controlling their moods and especially have difficulty managing their temper when they are frustrated or angry. Every page I read in the first book I read about ODD fit Alicia perfectly, and for the first time in many, many months, Alicia's behaviors made sense to me and even more importantly - I had answers on how to change the way we were parenting so we could decrease the number of tantrums and emotional outbursts.

I continued reading more books, and we started seeing a child-psychologist who works up at McKay Dee Hospital. He has been incredibly helpful in opening our eyes to this disorder and how best to go about helping Alicia learn to deal with her emotions.

After a particularly rough day of emotional outbursts and extensive arguing from her, she made this for me:

I was touched that she had noticed we were doing our best to try and help her. Each time I look at this, I remember what this is all about - continuing to love and take care of that kind, sweet, loving child I am proud to call My Daughter.

My New Favorite Place

2011-09-29T15:56:00.007-06:00

I have a new favorite place - it's this cool bike/walking/running/rollerblading/or whatever trail in West Layton that follows an old railway line and continues all the way down to Gateway in Salt Lake City. They just barely finished it during the summer.

We discovered it as a family about a month ago when we set out on a family bike ride down the trail. Then John and I went by ourselves last week for a date, even biking in the dark with some headlamps - now that is a fun adventure and a very fun cheap date idea. We rode all the way down to Farmington and took the train home. One of these days we'd like to ride all the way down to Salt Lake.

I am so excited to have a cool bike trail near us that is so smooth and flat!! I absolutely adore riding bikes. Sadly, I didn't have my camera for any of our biking adventures, and John and I looked incredibly dorky with our head lamps under our bike helmets, so suffice it so say, I will have to wait for another time to take pictures.

Today I went back to the trail with just my two young 'uns. While I pushed Megan in the stroller, Natalie could ride her bike to her heart's content and I didn't have to worry about any cars, weird turns, crazy drivers, etc. - we basically had the trail to ourselves and spent 60 luxurious minutes soaking in the warm fall air, feeling the light breeze, and counting the katrillion grasshoppers along the trail (some not so alive and thoroughly squished. nasty).

Oh, and getting some exercise too while we were at it.

I Have a Problem

2011-09-21T14:32:00.006-06:00

Yes that's right, and I am here to make it bloggingly public.

Let me begin by telling you about a recent outing our family had to visit some friends in Clinton this past Sunday evening. About 10 minutes into the 20 minute drive, I discovered something most disturbing. I had forgotten to grab my purse on the way out the door because I had been holding a bowl of salad in one arm, and Megan in the other. Yes I know, to an average woman, this wouldn't normally be a problem as John was driving, I didn't need my wallet and keys. But sadly, I am not the average-joe, because in my purse lay two very important must-have items I need to have on hand at all times: my chapstick and lotion.

I wasn't as worried about the lotion as I was the chapstick. I was pretty sure my friend would have lotion on hand, which she did in her bathroom, but not everyone uses chapstick like I do. I buy chapstick in bulk...monthly. I have a friend who told me once that she doesn't think she has ever finished a tube of chapstick...ever.

I on the other hand start to get desperate when my chapstick gets down to its final layer if I don't have a backup tube on hand. In fact, as we left Oregon this summer on our way home from a reunion, I applied my chapstick only to discover that it was nearly gone. Since I knew I couldn't make it the rest of the 9-hour trip with such a rinky-dink amount, I picked up a new tube at the very next gas station.

Yes, I know I have a problem. It all started when I moved down to Utah 17 years ago. My lips were used to the moist, ever-rainy weather conditions of the northwest. My lips (and hands) went into rebellion mode when they encountered the vast dryness of Utah. I compensated with chapstick (and lotion for the hands). And since then, it has never left my side.

I am teased mercilessly by family and friends. You would think this would change my habits.

No.

I am still sadly addicted to the addicting stuff. As another friend stated once, I must have the smoothest lips and hands in the neighborhood.

I am not worried. It is probably OCD, but as I have researched the disorder, it is only a mild form. In fact, I'll take my chapstick OCD over any of the other options out there.

That being said, I give you my full permission to chuckle, snicker, or even tease me if you see me apply yet again, more chapstick. Just know that my lips are sealed. Literally.

Do The Puyallup

2011-09-18T23:18:00.008-06:00

Whenever I think of the state fair, I can't help but remember while growing up all of the commercials for the Washington State Fair with the catchy jingle singing about "...Do the Puyallup." Please tell me you fellow Seattlites remember those? Heck, maybe they're even still singing it up there?

So, the Utah State Fair may not have a catchy tune, but it's a tradition for us to go down every year. Last Saturday was our day of choice for the fair, which was a first for us as we have usually gone during the work week in the past, picking John up from work on the way. Now that he works in Clearfield, we attempted a Saturday. Next year we will go back to middle of the week.

Reason? Ever try finding a parking spot near the fairgrounds on a late Saturday afternoon? And tack on the fact that North Temple is down to just one lane each as they add in the trax lines. 30 minutes of seeing sign after sign of 'parking lot full,' we were about ready to give up when we saw one lot with a few spots open. We found out real quick why they still had spots. They were double the price of everywhere else. But, when the supply is down, demand does have a tendency to increase. After our harrowing experience, we were willing to pay the increased price.

We spent 4 hours at the fair, so it was well worth the parking hassles (well, almost.)

We saw kangaroos and wallabies, spent some time in the science area, did a treasure hunt in one of the buildings, visited every building with displays of some sort, saw the animals, and caught a couple of rides.

The older girls even enjoyed petting a goose.

Megan, not so much.

Got to see the loomer in action. In fact, the girls quite enjoyed themselves and spent quite a bit of time asking her questions and watching her at work.

John, not so much.

We always ride the Ferris Wheel.

Though, we did learn that Kimberly is not so keen about heights.
Not a problem for Megan though!

Too bad our garden didn't produce one of these babies.

The state fair always signals the end of summer and the start of fall. I love fall, but it is never long enough! We'll see what this fall has in store for us.

My Mom Taught Me To Use Protection

2011-09-13T12:00:00.006-06:00

When I was a kid, my mom made us wear bike helmets. Back in the 80s, they were just starting to come out and so my mom, being a good mom and all, wanted us to be safe, so of course we were the only kids on the block who HAD to wear helmets (there were absolutely no exceptions of course). Admittedly, I hated it and always felt like a complete dork. Oh, and we of course had to wear them when we went sledding, which now that I think about it, would be a good idea for my kids, but do I ever remember? Of course not.

I do however remember to have the kids wear helmets when they ride their bikes. It is one of the things in our household that is not open for discussion - it is a pure must. Grounding from ones bike has occurred a time or two for the kids to realize we actually do mean what we say.

I am grateful my mom insisted we wear our helmets because it was so ingrained in me that now my kids know the drill, because you never know when this might happen to your kid's head when protected with a helmet:

I am extremely grateful I am showing you this picture of a helmet, and not her head.

I didn't really think about her helmet much when she came home from school last week and her whole arm and shoulder were scraped up to the hilt when she wiped out trying to avoid a truck backing out of a driveway. As I was rearranging the girls' helmets in the garage yesterday, I noticed the huge gash, several cracks, and numerous marks on the helmet and immediately felt a rush of gratefulness for all of our repeated remindings to the girls to "Go get your helmet on!"

I don't even mind that I need to buy her a replacement helmet. It is worth every penny.

and yes, I'm aware of the veiled reference to other things in my title, but hey, it got you to read my posting, didn't it?

So it's root, root-root for the home team...

2011-09-12T13:54:00.008-06:00

If they don't win it's a shame...which sadly, the Ogden Rapor's game we attended as a family recently was a shame since we lost, but we are still rooting for them!

We were given some freebie passes to see our local minor-minor league baseball team play. Sadly, the girls were more interested in meeting Mr. Raptor than actually watching the game.

We had a fun time though as a family introducing the girls to the entertaining world of baseball.

On a complete side note, Megan is having fun with all of her sisters at school, in case you were wondering -

I Have a New Love

2011-09-12T13:26:00.006-06:00

I am officially declaring my new love: St. George, Utah. I have not visited since I was a wee child, so my memories of the place are a bit blurry. I was able to go down this last weekend with some gal pals of mine, and I've fallen in love with the place! I will be dreaming of St. George this winter. I may have to visit again very soon.

As is our tradition, the gals on my street head out every September for a girl's weekend. This year, we decided to give St. George a try so we could stay at my neighbor's sister's condo and do some shopping, see the sights, and watch a show at the Tuacahn theater.

As always, we had a fabulous time, and I got some new shirts and a totally chic purse (as evidenced in some of my pictures). We had a grand time, as always.

well, maybe a little too much fun -

Of course, that's all of the craziness I'm sharing for now, because as you know, what happens in St. George, stays in St. George.

We did lots of eating out, sans kids. How quiet and inexpensive when you are only paying for one!

A few of us went to see Grease at the Tuacahn Theater. It is an outdoor theater next to a beautiful red-rock backdrop. Sitting and watching a good performance with the gorgeous scenery and the wind lightly blowing is something I will definitely have to do again.

(see: chick purse)

And since we didn't quite make it to church on Sunday, we did the next best thing and visited the temple grounds. Our timing was impeccable as the area was hit with a massive rain/thunder/lightning/hail storm the moment we finished clicking our pictures.

All in all, a very fun weekend indeed. Now I can catch up on my sleep.

Minus a couple things

2011-09-02T20:39:00.006-06:00

It pays to live in a good neighborhood, one where my nine-year-old neighbor can train my daughter how to do things.

Like this:

I did not have to train Natalie how to ride a bike without training wheels. Nor did John this time around. I just left it up to Alicia's nine-year-old friend to do the deed.

**Note** My girls DO wear helmets when they ride their bikes, but I completely forgot to have her wear it for the picture-taking session. oops.

Now don't go thinking I forced her into it. I didn't even plead nicely. Natalie has been begging to have her training wheels taken off, especially since a couple of her friends can now ride a two-wheeler. I discovered many years ago that I am a terrible teacher when it comes to two-wheel bike riding, so it's been John's job for the girls.

We only had one problem this time around: John has been out of town for the last couple of weeks in New Mexico on business, so I reassured Natalie that he would help her learn when he got home.

Guess she got tired of waiting because a couple days ago while she was playing outside, my 9-year-old neighbor brought out her old bike and taught Natalie how in 10 minutes flat.

Have I mentioned I have the best neighbors anyone can ask for?

You can bet I will sign her up to train Megan too when she turns four.

School!!

2011-08-31T11:54:00.010-06:00

I am so excited to announce that all three of our school-aged kids are now in school - yipee!!!

Alicia in 4th grade, Kimberly in 6th
and Natalie in Preschool.

When Natalie isn't in preschool, she and Megan find PLENTY of things to keep them busy. They are happy as clams to be on their own without their older sisters around and they follow each other EVERYWHERE!

They love to do each others hair.
Well, let me clarify, I think it's Natalie doing Both girls' hair.

They spend time coloring together.

They are constantly in the sand pile -
it is my absolute favorite thing we have put in for the kids.
(Okay, John put it in, but I did help with the sand - that is BEACH sand I had put in,
not the more popular regular sand most have -
it is luxurious)

I wasn't kidding about them doing everything together.
I think mostly it's Megan following Natalie around,
but thankfully, Natalie puts up with it.

As we speak, they are both playing the piano -
Natalie on the low notes,
and Megan on the high notes.

Okay, so there's more...

yes, they are getting hooked on junk food together.

And they watch Sesame Street together.
Monkey See...Monkey Do.

And one of their other most favorite thing to do -
playing Legos for hours.

Hours my friends.

Best investment we ever made for the kids
way back when Kimberly was two.
Kudos to Legos for building such sturdy toys.

So, you'd think Megan would have a hard time while Natalie is off at preschool.

Not one iota of trouble.

Today she spent most of her time playing contently with her cars.
Sigh. I am a happy mother right now.
Of course, that might change when 3:30 p.m. rolls around,
but for now, I'll relish my sanity having returned to normal
and my blood pressure back to regular levels.

Spots - Never a good sign

2011-08-28T21:30:00.005-06:00

I was thinking that I love blogging about my adventures, but I've decided I would like to blog on occasion about my thoughts, you know, those ramblings that occur in your head that you don't ever say out loud. So feel free to peruse through my more thoughtier blogs if you so desire, but by no means will I be offended if you skip over them (not that I'd ever know, really).

I loved being in my 20s. I liked my bod, my hair, my face, everything really, that is until a few years ago when gals started moving into my neighborhood that I thought looked about my age. Come to find out, I am a mere 10 years older (and now even more than that for the even newer newcomers).

Sadly, I started reassessing my real age and the fact that my skin was no longer as taut looking as it was back then. I really did believe that in my 20s, I would be happy and love turning the older ages - of course I wouldn't complain like all of those other 30 and 40-somethings who were always griping about some body issue that wasn't the same anymore. I would be happy to be alive, no griping from me, no-siree bob.

That is, until I hit 29 and three-quarters and the looming 30th birthday was skidding my way. I was not the happy camper I had envisioned in earlier years. I got the uncomfortable blues about my age and started examining my face and discovered the nitty gritty that I had been denying for the months previous. I began to take inventory of the dark age spots that had begun forming on my face, the crinkles that were just starting to make themselves known between my eyebrows, and the less-than perky looking skin that used to glow at an earlier date.

I was not happy. whatsoever. I set up an appointment with a dermatologist to find out how to make those horrid age spots disappear. He gave me the unpleasant news: not a single over-the-counter product would work removing those spots, no matter how much those advertisers try to tell you otherwise and the only stuff that would work was some crazy-expensive small bottle of miracle spot remover. Of course, if I wanted to try and buy it from Canada, it might be a little less expensive he told me. Now, things might have changed since then - this was 6 years ago, but I seriously doubt it.

Though I was seriously considering buying the stuff just so I could feel better about myself, that is until he told me the next unpleasant bit: no using the stuff while pregnant. We were thinking about getting pregnant at the time, so out the window went that idea.

I went home and found some great {expensive} make-up that I bought for my birthday, and that seemed to do the trick for awhile, until I realized a short while ago that without even realizing it, I slowly stopped worrying about the age spots. I quietly stopped saying hello to my forehead crinkle lines every morning, and I stopped squishing my pudgy gut that has been looming ever since my first baby, and no matter how many sit-ups, diet plans, or exercise plans I have done, 11 years later, I still have an extra friend around my waist keeping me company. But really, I have come to accept my fate and am finally happy with myself - age spots and all.

I can't say what the magic formula for coming to this conclusion was, only that it took some time, it took a smashing of sadness for loosing the younger-version of me, but eventually that sadness dissipated without even saying good bye to me, until I realized belatedly that it was gone.

Now, I'm not saying I won't go through this again when the grey-hair fairy starts sprinkling her magic on my head, but until then, I like this feeling, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

That's all for now.

One Doesn't Look Like the Other

2011-08-24T23:20:00.006-06:00

Our lone zucchini from the garden got put to good use tonight. How can such a disgusting looking creation of brown goo with chunks of thinly sliced vegetable actually turn into such a sweet-tasting concoction? I have never figured out the secret to zucchini bread's success, but here you have it, my zucchini bread from tonight where I added my favorite ingredient to one loaf, while my other loaf remains naked.

I have one daughter who hates having chocolate chips in anything other than the occasional chocolate chip cookie. How can that possibly be when she is of my direct lineage? I put chocolate chips in everything - cinnamon rolls, Rice Krispie treats, Brownies, and yes, even zucchini bread. Every time I make something, she requests I leave some chocolate-chip less. How un-fabulous tasting is that? Apparently to her taste buds, mighty taste worthy. My thoughts? Simply atrocious. and yes, I do buy chocolate chips in bulk, on a very regular basis.

The other thing I discovered about the zucchini bread making process tonight, is that I think my oldest daughter, Kimberly (the very one who hates the brown kissy-looking things in the baked goods), has surpassed my baking skills.

She has been the one baking zucchini bread for the last couple of years. Apparently this year, she has moved on to bigger and better things as I couldn't talk her into whipping up a batch with our lone zucchini, so I was relegated to the infamous chore. I mean really, we can't have a garden zucchini go to waste, especially if it will be our only budlet this summer, right?

I opened my recipe book up to the page with my delicious zucchini bread recipe, and lo-and-behold, she has made her own notes! What?!? ...and I quote...'add ginger for extra sweetness.' Uh, guess I should take some cooking classes, as I'm a stick-to-the recipe type gal, nary a waver from the printed out instructions. I do believe Kimberly has got some of her dad's culinary skills when it comes to adding a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, always informing me she has added a secret ingredient to things. So far, she's had good success with amazingly, no weird tasting secret ingredients out of place.

Well, now that the bread is done, I do believe I will have a bedtime snack before getting some much-needed shut-eye. mmmmm...

Hodge Podge of Adventures

2011-08-22T19:38:00.010-06:00

I am avoiding the mountainous pile of school papers that need my signature by doing something much more exciting - blogging our weekend adventures.

Adventure #1

Wedding bliss for John's brother, Justin, and his now wife, Heather, whom we love dearly - and her oh-so-cute 4-year-old daughter who just fits right in with all of the other cousins. Cheers to the two of you!

The whole Rimington clan came to celebrate (minus the sorely missed twin missionaries).

Okay Justin, you thought we were the nice, sweet sisters and mom? mwahahaha...

Bet you didn't expect that one from us!
Don't worry, he made sure to dunk all of us (well, most of us) in Bear Lake the next day.

Adventure #2

Nothing like celebrating your honeymoon with the ENTIRE family at Bear Lake. With all due respect to the honeymooners, they knew what they were getting into when they planned their wedding 3 weeks ago. Marian and her family were in town, so the blissful couple decided now would be the perfect time for their union. We thought so too.

Anyway, as you all know so well by now (since I have blogged about our annual Bear Lake trip with the Rimingtons for 3 years in a row, and it just might be getting old), I'll just give you a brief low-down with pictures:

all of the grandkiddios in attendance.
Since our normal beach just south of Garden City was completely covered in water, we had to relocate ourselves to the north beach. Crowded, but plenty of sand to go around.

Who is that sexy mama?
The mama eating junk-food galore with chips, oreos, licorice, pop, and many, many more tasty things not so good for the bod, but alas, what makes the lake trips all the more memorable.

Yah, bet ya didn't know you could make snow angels in sand? Well, on second thought, you probably knew that already. Cute nonetheless.

I am a tad disappointed with myself. I only took a handful of pictures. You'd think we'd been to Bear Lake with the clan a time or two already. I'm getting photo-lazy. Seriously need to step up my game.

Adventure #3

Getting all of the kids new school supplies to fit in their backpacks Sunday night for the sweet, sweet joy of school today. ahh, Blessed was the peace and quietness for a few hours before, of course, an early out on the first day. Thankfully tomorrow resumes normal schedule for the full-day of much-needed older kid-free time for me. I might even make strawberry jam. That is a big might because the lure of the back porch and my book may be calling to me. Oh, and of course, playing with the only one left at home not in school this year - (that is when Natalie starts preschool up next week)

This was Natalie's attempt at doing her hair. She is quickly surpassing her mother in hair skills, wouldn't you say? (you did notice my beautiful do in the lake picture above?) I ask myself on an almost daily basis why I was blessed with four girls and I was not blessed with an ounce of hair talent. At least I know how to take them to my hair stylist for cute hair cuts.

That would be the end of our weekend adventures for now. We'll see what adventures this week has in store for us.

What to Do With Your Pennies

2011-08-12T22:59:00.003-06:00

Wow - two blog postings from me in one day. I do believe that is a record-setting event for me.

I just had to share my good-found news with my pals that live around here because there are deals to be had on school supplies my dearies!!

Thanks to my expert couponer sister, Shannon, I was informed last night of some steals on school supplies, her being a teacher and all, trust me when I say she knows her deals.

A simple visit to Office Max (asap by the way) will provide you with 100 sheets of college-ruled paper for .... ONE CENT!! I didn't think I had read it correctly, but all 3 packages rang up as 1 measly penny. Onward to pencils, 12 count for $0.99. Next up, spiral bound notebooks - 70 page count for 99 cents as well - and, Aaaack - HALT - I just noticed, the guy rang up Kimberly's foam board twice!! Dangit. I'm going to have to go back and get that fixed. She's entering some photos of hers into the Davis County Fair and they need to be on foam board.

...anyway, onward to my steel-of-a-deals, which now that I was overcharged an extra $6 does not seem like such a steal anymore. Colored pencils were $1.99, composition books $1.79, and crayons for $1.99.

I still have a few more items to get (and now a return to Office Max for a refund), but I can see how people get hooked on couponing. I have been on cloud 9 all evening thinking of the deals I got away with.

On a total side note, Megan said the cutest thing this evening that I just have to share with you. We were on the way home from a wedding reception and Natalie's tummy wasn't feeling so hot - probably from the 3 suckers she had at the reception, so she had started to wimper. Megan (who is only 22 months mind you,) looked over and in a very tender voice asked, Sad? Sad? You could just see the concern for her sister in her eyes and it just melted my motherly heart. Moments like those make the other frustrating moments more do-able.

Now, back to the issue at hand. Ladies, get a jump on those school deals and do let me know if you find some other good sales elsewhere.

Sand In the Nether-Regions

2011-08-12T12:48:00.006-06:00

...and just for the record before I proceed - 10 more days. You would think I would be a little more prepared for the girls' start of school, but all they have so far is new shoes. I would have their other stuff too, but after the ghastly cost of shoes taking up my entire back-to-school budget, I will now be looking for extra change in the couch cushions to afford the page-long list of supplies the girls need to have by the first day of school (not that I'm complaining - those poor teachers spend way too much out of their pockets for my girls, so I am more than happy to provide our fair share).

Things are actually going quite swimmingly with the girls at home, especially since a good portion of the last two weeks have been spent at the beach or water parks with the lovely summer shine upon us turning my girls' skin ever-browner.

Here we are at the beach with my sister-in-law Marian and her kids - I love having them in town from New York.

We enjoyed a day at the water park with one of my other sisters-in-law, Gail a few days ago, but after getting the car jumped before we left due to one of the girls (who still has not fessed up to it) leaving the car door open all night, I completely forgot to pack my camera.

We also visited Liberty park last week where they have a fun section of park filled with water holes, wading areas, and waterfalls. A blissful day in the sun keeping my kids occupied.

Yesterday, we made our way back to the beach with our friends. Just try and keep track of your kids with this sea of neighborhood kids:

That's right, there were about 20 plus kids there from our group.

Here's a few of the girlies from the midst.
And of course, their lovely mothers -

I am blessed to have such fun and loving gal pals from my neighborhood to hang out with at the beach.

One more week with one more beach trip and then it will be back to the grind of school. I must admit, I have enjoyed our lazy, care-free mornings and late nights out in the summer sun. All good things must come to an end though.

19 Days

2011-08-03T12:49:00.005-06:00

Oh my friends, it is that time - you know, the time when I have hit my absolute max of kid-time summer fun. I have officially begun the days until school countdown. So, as of this very moment, 19 days it is.

Look -

Even Kimberly is ready for school having done up this diorama 'for fun'. She kept booting me off the computer for what I thought was going to be computer games, but she insisted she wanted to learn more about endangered whales.

See? Summer school paid off.

Musings for the Week

2011-07-30T19:09:00.003-06:00

Musing #1: Here is what I can do now that I have a sewing machine:

Megan has grown like 3 inches in the last couple of months - okay, so maybe not 3, but she has shot up like a weed, so most of her shorts and summer dresses are now way too short and I will not - I repeat - refuse to buy shorts that will only last another month. So, Wa-La! 18-month old pants that are too short for her, I converted into shorts.

While I was at it, Kimberly asked me to turn some capris of hers that had holes in the knees into shorts. Why Yes Kimberly, I can do that - instead of the previous a) wait until we make a trip to Grandma Rimington's to borrow her sewing machine or b) wait for Grandma Lynn to visit who was always so sweet to take home my items needing loving attention from the sewing machine. Now I can just whip my baby out and sew away as needed.

Musing #2:

In case you were wondering and just didn't have the heart to bring it up with me, yes, I do let my kids gnaw on anything unhealthy when I'm sewing. It keeps them occupied and away from me while I work my sewing magic.

Musing #3:

While I was busy sewing, (and the two youngest chowing away), John and Kimberly were working on her bedroom downstairs. He is having her help, since it is her bedroom. She was balking at the idea the other day, so John turned to Alicia to start asking if she'd like to help and then it could be her bedroom...Kimberly got the idea and quickly turned over her services.

We have the first wall up (I get to say we because I did 'help' hold some boards into place while he nailed away.) It is a rather slow-going process because we're buying stuff as our budget allows each month, and when John has time to work on it in-between business trips. Don't worry - it will get done and it will look fabulous.

Musing #4:

I have taken a brief hiatus from blogville as I have been madly trying to read my library book 'Unbroken' by Laura Hillenbrand, the same gal who wrote 'Seabiscuit'. I absolutely love reading, but unfortunately, I am a slow reader, which doesn't normally worry me, except this is a two-week check-out. I still have a couple hundred pages left and it's due back on Wednesday. Can we say Stress!!

Of course, it doesn't end there because I need to start reading 'The Help' that came in the same day as Unbroken and though it is a 4-week checkout, I have spent the last two reading the Unbroken. I put a hold on those books awhile ago - who knew they would come at the same time (this after I just finished reading Water For Elephants, also a long hold).

Musing #5:

The 3 oldest girls finished up a round of swimming lessons this week and are definitely little fish. Now we are just trying to hang in there until school starts in 3 weeks - YAY!! The girls have officially had it with each other and Natalie can't wait to start preschool...even better. Just Megan and I chillin' for 3 mornings a week. Sweetness.

Okay, I think I have just passed my limit of words for this post, so adios for now!

To My Meldrum Clan - This One's for You...

2011-07-18T17:08:00.009-06:00

It was to be a historic reunion, one that had never happened before in my lifetime that I could remember, other than a handful of weddings and funerals. One thing we all agreed on was that we didn't want to have another 'reunion' at a funeral anytime soon.

It all began with two people,
my Grandma Lucy and Grandpa James Meldrum.
Five kids later, my dad being the youngest,
and 31 grandchildren from them, me included,
all came to be a part of the Meldrum Clan.

It really wasn't until after my dad passed away two years ago that I realized what it truly meant to be a Meldrum. When I was looking for some comfort in my Grandma Meldrum's history (since my dad didn't leave one behind), I was reading her last paragraph that says this:

"My prayer is that I can live to see my grandchildren and great grandchildren and enjoy their love. I love my children very much. I think as one grows older, one begins to understand what love really is. I love my grandchildren and great grandchildren. I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful family."

It was then that I felt my grandma's words of love reach out and engulf me. At that moment, I realized being a Meldrum meant being a part of an entire family filled with love more than I had known. I was important to my grandma - someone who had passed away in my teen years, but she knew me and loved me.

So, needless to say, I was greatly looking forward to this reunion to feel of that love again from my uncles, aunt, and cousins. However, what I gained from the reunion ended up being much more than I expected - something so special and wonderful that I wanted to share it with you.

When my cousin Ronnie set up the reunion, she had felt numerous promptings that our family needed a reunion. She brushed the thoughts aside, knowing full well how much work such a task would require. Finally though, she could no longer ignore the relenting promptings, so a year ago, she began the proceedings for getting the 100 plus clan together. I can tell you that this reunion was most certainly meant for my family - I'm sure I'm not the only one, but this was my experience -

As we traveled to the reunion, I was looking forward to the usual reunion things - seeing my dear uncles and aunt who are always so loving to me, and of course catching up with my cousins I haven't seen since my wedding 14 years ago, and some even longer since the days of hanging out at grandma and grandpa's farm in eastern Washington. I have always loved the Meldrums and knew we would have our usual Meldrum fun.

Of course, the usual thoughts of wishing my dad could be there lingered in the back of my mind, and as I tried pushing the sadness aside for what seemed like the umpteenth time, a new thought began forming. I began thinking about what I would do if my dad were given the chance to come back for a brief visit.

If I were given such an incredible opportunity, after the initial shock, tears, and hugs, I would want to relive life with him and visit with our usual style - but then, ultimately, I would want my kids to get the chance to play with him and spend time with him, something they always enjoyed and to this day, tell me how much they miss.

Knowing obviously, that this won't happen in my lifetime, I came to the reunion and got the next best thing - a part of my dad was there at the reunion, right then, with me. It was a precious gift that I hold dear to my heart, for there at the reunion while visiting with my dad's brother, Dave, I realized with startling clarity how similar they look in their facial expressions and mannerisms. I discovered that I was given a precious gift during the reunion - the opportunity to be with someone who not only knew my dad so well, but to also get the chance to visit with someone who had so much of my dad in him. I was given a rare opportunity to be with my dad again so to speak and I cherished every one of those moments during the reunion.

On the left is my dad, in the middle is my Uncle Dave, on the right is my Uncle Bob - two of my dad's siblings.

Here is Uncle Dave at the reunion - compared to the picture of my dad below:

Okay, so they aren't identical twins, but since I don't get to see my dad in person anymore, it was an uncanny resemblance.

We visited extensively throughout the reunion, complete with a big hug from him, reminding me of my dad's ever-present love for me. Of course, it wasn't just Dave, it was all of my dad's siblings who went out of their way to express their love to me and my family, even spending time visiting and playing with my children.

The ultimate moment at the reunion that melted my heart was when after most everyone had left after one of the lunch get-togethers and I was cleaning up my craft table while the kids played next to me. Uncle Dave came up and gathered up my kids and proceeded to take them for a ride on his wife's wheel chair thing. It was almost as if my dad was there doing what he loved best - being with his grand kids.

Words cannot even express how grateful I am to have had the experience with my dad's brothers and sister. I needed the reunion more than I knew. Now that I know it, I am thankful we took the time to share those moments with the Meldrum clan this last weekend.

Now I am thinking about the fact that my dad always teased me about my lengthy blog posts, so in memory of him, I bid adieu to the novel and move forward with the pictures:

Here's the green - aka Glen's portion of the Meldrums, that attended the reunion, just a fraction of the much larger clan:

Over 100 of us - about 75 percent of the entire Meldrum group came out for the reunion.

I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but we traveled up to Wallowa Lake in Eastern Oregon for the reunion. Beautiful, huh.

We couldn't pass up the usual touristy things like the go-carts:

Alicia went just the right speed for her grandma.

John on the other hand here passed them a few times:

The deer were extra friendly in this part of town, coming up to visit us at our cabin.

and to my utter displeasure (I did NOT take this photo), the kids can now say they have pet a wild deer.

Anyway, now that the reunion is over, I have memories I will cherish for the rest of my life. Thanks again guys. I'm proud to say I am a Meldrum.

BEACH!!!

2011-07-11T19:04:00.011-06:00

You all know that one of my most absolute favorite places to be is on the beach, sooo, since we were in charge of my family's Meldrum reunion this year, bet ya' can't guess where we took them?

Why, Bear Lake of course. This was our agenda for the 4-day adventure:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

and Sunday (i know, i know, not the most Sabbath-appropriate activity, but we did just go to the freebie beach, not the charging one):

Now, I do love the Oregon Coast beaches where we do our reunions most years, but there is one s l i g h t difference between the beaches. See:

Manzanita Beach - without swim suits

Bear Lake - with swim suits

We decided we wanted to actually SWIM in the water - with bathing suits, without freezing. What Bear Lake gives up in ocean wave action it gives back in swimming warmth.

Okay, so we didn't just swim in the lake and hang out on the beach the entire time. We also hung out at our rental house and played games, enjoyed the fabulous view from the deck, and looked forward to the nightly thunder storms that moved in each evening.

our traditional game of Scum after the kids go to bed

We even checked out the Minnetonka Cave, which is just north of Bear Lake:

All-in-all, a very fun time had by all. Now on to Meldrum Reunion #3 later in the month up in Eastern Oregon for the mother-of-all reunions. Meldrums will be everywhere!! Stay tuned.

Dear Old Friends

2011-07-06T13:57:00.010-06:00

1997

Once upon a time, just a few shy years ago when John and I were first married, living in a dinky apartment up in Logan, we made some dear friends in our married student ward, the Mickelsons.

We hung out with them all the time, even teaching them how to make our famous Halloween fingers.

I am grateful that no matter where I live, I am blessed with dear and true friends, Layton City included (our current place of abode). Logan was no exception. Thankfully, we have been able to keep in touch with our dear friends over the years when we have all been in the same vicinity - and even more impressive, the fact that we accomplished this even before facebook became popular.

We had another such get together this last weekend with a few of those friends from Logan -

Left to Right: Mickelsons, Hurds, Rimingtons, and Woods. Shout-out to the Southwicks, who we miss terribly, but alas, they are all the way on the east coast, and the Mathews in the mid-west: if ever either of you guys are in the Utah vicinity and have a spare minute, you are always welcome here!

...and a few kids later.

We even brought home a souvenir. Yum.

One With Nature

2011-06-28T16:37:00.004-06:00

We finally made it out camping this last weekend - our first time since before Megan was born. After our last couple of experiences camping with babies, I vowed never to do that again, so now that Megan isn't so little, we decided to give it a go. Success!!

This time the camping was with John's family for our Rimington family reunion.

Here's some of the phase one originals - left to right: Mike, Justin, Mom, Dad, Keith, John. We're missing Marian (who lives in New York), and Kevin and Tammy who are both on missions in California.

We had a grand ole time.

We did some singing -

We did some hanging out with cousins -

We even did some game playing -

Kubb is the name of the game we're playing here - basically a stand-up version of chess.

We did some hiking -

And sadly, the camping trip ended with this cute little gal puking up her socks -

Here she is sleeping between rounds of puking. We used the time to quickly pack up our camping gear so we could head home a day earlier than originally planned, which ended up being a very wise decision since Natalie joined the fun a few hours later with Kimberly and I getting sick the next morning.

Other than the sudden end to the camping trip, it was a lovely time. We even celebrated dad's birthday with a dutch-oven peach cobbler.

And a few of us adults got to stay up after the kids had gone to bed and enjoyed a kid-less visiting session, something we rarely get to do these days.

We just might have to head back out again before summer ends.

To Everything There Is a Season --

2011-06-22T22:01:00.014-06:00

-- and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ... and a time to love. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1, bits and pieces from 2, 4, 5, and 8)

As the dreaded anniversary of my father's passing two years ago approached last week on the 18th, with aching sorrow still coursing deep through my veins over the loss of someone so dear to me, I was thinking of these verses in the Old Testament, favorites of mine since my teen years.

I certainly had my time to weep on this particular day two years ago, but this year, on this marked day, was a new time -- a time to laugh and embrace with my siblings and mom as we reunited for a special time to love, that of my brother's wedding to a beautiful gal named Liz. Theirs is the story of second chances with a bright future.

Brice and Liz

...and their kids, Jimmie (Brice's boy, age 3, and Gracie, Liz's daughter, age 4)

Yes, there were some tears shed on such a special day for my brother with dad so poignantly missing, but we simply continued on with the good times and laughter that always accompanies our get-togethers and knew he probably wasn't too far from the fun. I have learned an incredible lesson over these last two years in that I now recognize the hands of heaven that touch our lives, impeccably placed at opportune times.

Here's all of us - top , Shannon and Brice - bottom, Christy, my mom, and me.

Shannon, Me, Christy
You'd think we were sisters or something.

The trip up to Seattle and Portland was a pure luxury for me. See this ---

That's right, not one Rimington girlie in sight (other than me). Blessed silence.

With all of John's business travels of late, we decided I needed a break from motherhood, so John and the girls loaded me up on the plane with just my small suitcase and some good books and off to the Northwest I went.

Shannon and I gulping in the sights of the sound and soaking in rays of Seattle sunshine at Ivars, one of the most heavenly places to eat seafood.

When I arrived, it was beautiful, sunny skies with trees as far as the eye can see. For a couple of days, I was wondering why I had left such a beautiful place. Then the rain hit on Saturday, and I remembered - clearly - why I fell in love with Utah. When I first moved to Logan, I was thinking how beautiful the sunshine was. Then I awoke for the next several weeks asking myself, "Is that really the sun up again? How did I not know such a place existed?" Hence the reason I do not want to budge from this sunny state (albeit a little cold in the winter, but the blessed powder skiing makes up for it).

If you don't believe me on the whole tree thing, here's proof:

Even the freeway is surrounded by trees (just try and find a sliver like this in Utah):

But, you can see the miserably-looking overcast/rainy skies and you know what I mean about the payoff for living in such a beautiful place.

Anyway, now that I have severely digressed from the main topic at hand, let me get back on track.

Before the wedding, my sister, Shannon and my mom decided to travel over to a town north of Seattle known for their whole German town feel. We even had German food for dinner.

Leavenworth, WA

After the wedding, I zipped on down to Portland with my sister, Christy where she fed me, entertained me, and I didn't have to cook a single meal, or discipline a single child. It was divine. Truth be told, I did start to miss John and my girlies, so I enjoyed returning home to their love.

Thanks Meldrummers for a most incredible weekend. I miss all of you already. Good thing I get to see you all in just a couple weeks for Meldrum Reunion #2 and #3.

Olympic Fanfare

2011-06-20T23:12:00.005-06:00

We decided to celebrate our anniversary this year by taking a trip down the Olympic bobsled run up in Park City's Olympic Park. The ride explicitly describes our 14-year marriage together; heart-pounding, breath-taking, twists and turns at unexpected moments, astoundingly incredible, and of course, the most amazing thing we've ever done, by far.

What was even more impressive about the ride was that I was literally speechless, which as most of you know, is quite a feat for me. 64 miles an hour on dinky little wheels in a bobsled as we screeched around every corner. Sheer shock I am telling you, but a definite must do in ones lifetime, but do it in the summer because it is far less expensive than the winter time runs.

The dude in the picture with us was the pilot.

In addition to the bobsled, we did the alpine slide (aka Quick Silver),
and the 2 zip lines up there too.

It was an amazing 24-hours thanks to Grandma who watched our kidlets so we could stay overnight at this fabulous bed and breakfast in Salt Lake City.

I highly recommend getting away for an overnight adventure for all you married couples. I encourage it so strongly, that I am happy to watch any and all of your kids so you can do so. It really is a priceless time for reconnecting and remembering why you love each other - without the chaos of kids and the other going-ons of running a household.

We loved it so much that we are already planning our 15-year wedding anniversary.

...it has begun

2011-06-10T23:57:00.006-06:00

So, we are in full swing with summer break. So far, so good.

My fingers are crossed in hopes that it stays that way.

Top reasons for success during week #1:

1) I have implemented summer school for the girls. Oh, they are just thrilled as you can well imagine. Once they got over the initial shock with my announcement at the beginning of the week, it has gone without a hitch. The girls spend an hour in the morning while I'm exercising doing such things as reading, math exercises, writing in their journals, or practicing the piano.

2) We are so fortunate to live next to some of our family, and since John's folks are only 30 minutes away, it was Alicia's turn to spend some time with Grandma sewing up a storm. She had so much fun - and I didn't have to teach her to sew! Win-win all the way around!

3) We made a trip to Discovery Gateway with a freebie pass Kimberly got at school.

The girls even played in the water fountain afterwards - we've never done that before. It is definitely something I want to do again this summer.

4) I got to spend an evening out for an amazing Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. It was a special thank-you concert for anyone who works for the military, so therefore, John got some great seats for us in the conference center. Sadly, he was out of town working on government business and wasn't able to enjoy the concert, so I took Kimberly as my date along with John's parents. I've never seen a live performance of the choir, so it was a real treat.

5) Last, but certainly not least, freebie lunches over at the school - I don't have to make the girl's lunch nor do I have to clean up after them. This makes for a very happy Dana. We have even been to the park and on a bike ride this week, so I'm on a roll with fun things to keep the girls busy. I seriously hope that rolling continues.

So, one week down, and many more to go, but I have an amazing week planned for next week, so stay tuned...

Let the Good Times Roll

2011-06-05T16:07:00.003-06:00

Friday was the girls last day of school, so we celebrated by walking to the rainbow snow place with some of the neighbor kids.

The neighbor's dog followed us and the kids almost had a visual lesson on what happens when you don't look for cars before crossing the street.

We decided to continue the party fest into the evening with a bonfire with some friends. Can I just say that one of my absolute favorite things is sitting around a campfire and roasting S'mores.

On Saturday, after spending most of the day working in the yard, we decided to sit and relax while coaxing the fish to come visit our poles. No such luck, but you can't beat the scenery and company.

- especially for my kids, who love spending time with their dad and grandpa -

Megan was even getting into the fishing by organizing John's tackle box.

Now on to the rest of summer break - filled with fun adventures. I love summertime! Well, not always having the kids home full-time, but I absolutely love all of the fun things we get to do in the warm weather.

Like Sister, Like Sister

2011-06-02T19:54:00.009-06:00

Remember this post from last year?

As you can see, I cursed myself with the very words, "Megan, my angel-child, will hopefully never do such things when she turns three." AUGH!! I should have known she would have the IQ of a 3-year-old at 20 months old.

I am seriously considering becoming a non-scissor-owning family since sister #3 left some scissors laying around for sister #4 to start cutting of all things, her hair!! I just took Megan in for a cute hair cut last week and now it is all for not as evidenced below:

At least it's still cute, albeit short. Don't be surprised if my girls come to your door begging for a pair of scissors.

P.S. What's even worse about the situation is that I was tending my neighbor's little 3-year-old, who did the same thing to her hair - cut a huge lock of preciously long blonde hair. I have been sick about it ever since.

I will make no apologies when my littlest one enters preschool with absolutely no knowledge of how to work a pair of scissors.

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream Cake!

2011-05-25T13:31:00.007-06:00

It was John's birthday yesterday. Because I am a most awesome wife and I love him, he got my first-ever homemade ice-cream cake!

I started with pouring only half of the prepared cake mix batter into a round cake pan. Once it was fully cooked, I let it cook on a wire rack, then placed a wax liner in the pan before kindly placing the cake back into its home.

I 'frosted' the top of the cake with slightly mooshy ice-cream, then covered it with plastic wrap and placed it in the freezer overnight.

The next morning, I microwaved ice-cream #2, then whipped it up in my Kitchen-aid, then frosted the second layer of ice-cream over the top of ice-cream #2. I froze that, then decorated it with whipped cream right before eating time. Oh, and I melted some chocolate chips and with a decorator's bag, did the writing.

Can you say YUM-M-Y? Yes it was.

I grew up with a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream cake for my birthday every year, but as most of you all know, I prefer homemade cake, so let me just say, this homemade version is far superior to what I can remember. Though that is not to discount how much I enjoyed my birthday cakes every year, because I did, immensely.

Now for picture catch-up since my last couple of posts were missing the best part of reading other people's blogs:

Alicia loves, loves her baby sister, and is always taking care of her (sometimes more than she or I likes), but it is times like this that are precious. Megan woke up with a fever one morning, so while I was getting breakfast for Natalie, Alicia came over and snuggled with Megan before school.

Kimberly was in a play at school - The Ugly Duckling - as a member of the geese clan. Here she is with her best friend, who was also a geese. (or a goose. or gossling. pick one).

And last but not least, here is troublemaker #1 and troublemaker #2:

I had just gotten them dressed in clean clothes for the day, and before I knew it, they were in the backyard playing in the sandbox, which usually isn't a problem, but we'd had some mega rainstorms during the night, so when I discovered where they had gone and called them back in, yes, you can imagine, they were a disaster. This picture really does not do it justice.

Thank goodness for the nice laminate flooring where I piled all of their clothes and sand, mud, dirt, etc. Until next time...

My Favorite Things

2011-05-15T16:34:00.003-06:00

I was thinking this weekend about some of my favorite things, of which I just so happened to enjoy this weekend - so I thought I would share them with you:

* Basking in the sun. Now that the sun has finally made an appearance in Utah land after all that rain, I sat, and sat, and sat some more on my back deck just drinking in the sweet, sweet feel of sunshine.

* Waking up to my hubby in bed with me. After many long weeks of business travel, he is finally home again - sadly, he has a couple more small trips before the month's out, but I am cherishing my time with him. I am luxuriating in his nearness and feel like all is as it should be with my other half finally paired back up with me.

I also enjoyed, well perhaps enjoyed isn't the best term, but... listened to the kids bickering downstairs knowing he was within earshot and could remedy the situation rather than knowing that I, yet again, had to deal with the situation by myself. I even ran off yesterday afternoon for ...wait for it...3 HOURS to go clothes shopping with Kimberly with nary a worry about getting home anytime soon! It was deliciously wonderful.

* Watermelon. It is my ultimate favorite fruit. I have changed up my eating routines a little bit and replaced my evening bowl of popcorn - slathered in butter, oh-how I miss you - with watermelon, and it is delicious.

* That part of night when all the kids are asleep, all the lights are out, the phone is quiet, the street noises outside dimmed, and the type of weather where I can open my window and just lie in bed before going to sleep, basking in the sounds of nothingness and listening to the luscious night noises while relishing the days events and thanking my Father in Heaven for the gift of life and my many sweet blessings. My absolute favorite time of day. May you all relish in your favorite things too.

The Apple of My Eye, Quite Literally

2011-05-08T16:09:00.006-06:00

So, for mother's day, I was thinking how my kids are definitely the apple of my eye, only this particular mother's day, I do believe the apple left behind one of its apple seeds, leaving a nice little crater in my eye.

Thinking it was just a painful scratch in my eye last night, turned into a massively painful, red, and swollen eye this morning. I desperately called my optometrist, who thankfully had an emergency phone number and graciously met me over at his office early Sunday morning. It was definitely an emergency indeed, because I could barely open my eye this morning due to a cornea ulcer. Who knew such thing even existed? Apparently for contact wearers, it happens on occasion.

Well, thanks to some lovely, and rather expensive prescription drops, my eye feels a titch better and on the road to recovery.

I know, happy mother's day to me, huh :) I am extremely thankful though for good doctors and good medicine. I'm glad I wasn't a pioneer mother.

Blah, Blah, Blah...

2011-05-06T08:49:00.003-06:00

I have the blahs right now - nothing fabulously interesting has been going on here of late at the Rimington household, but I noticed it's been over a week since my last post, and since I usually try to post at least once a week, I'll share a few pictures with you of Megan.

Natalie keeps commenting on how Megan's hair is like "sand" and my hair is "dark, dark, dark." So then I ask her what color her hair is, and she says, "brown." We definitely have a mix of brownish hair in the family.

Isn't she just so dang cute? She loves giving out kisses. I absolutely adore this age - 18 months really is one of the most perfect ages. So cute, sleeping through the night, eating with the family instead of nursing every 2 hours, and it's right before they start throwing massive two-year-old tantrums, so I'll enjoy this stage while it lasts.

Okay, so I shouldn't say the week has been entirely blah because I've gotten to do a few of these too - for those who have been asking how to access my stories, here it is...

http://www.standard.net/authors/dana-rimington

Due Time

2011-04-27T10:16:00.009-06:00

We have a couch. An old, flowery, comfy kind of couch.

Purchased in the year of 1997, just days after we returned home from our honeymoon so we would have something to sit on in the living room of our rat's nest apartment (which now that I think about it, is a whole separate blog entry).

Trust me, floral patterns and bright colors were the in-thing back then. I promise.

I was thinking it was due time to get a new couch to get with the new style. The thing is, it really is a perfectly good couch in perfectly good condition. Not, however, like our family room couch. That is in dire need of replacing, but that will have to wait for another year.

Anyway, for my birthday I found this couch cover that looks fantabulous! I think it definitely looks better, don't you think?

We bought a cover for the bright green chair, but it needs a few modifications, so until then, here is a picture with the very outdated bright green chair -

-------------------------------------------
On a whole separate note, for those of you who aren't facebookers (if you are, disregard below pics), here are the pink fluff skirts I made for the girls:

It was a gloriously beautiful Easter Day.

And now I have a gloriously beautiful couch to go with it.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

2011-04-22T22:20:00.011-06:00

The timing of this incident is just impeccable, given the last post about swapping clothes with the girls.

So I bought myself a fabulous new dress a week ago. Even wore it to church feeling oh-so-cute, with even my girls commenting on the dress's cuteness. Definitely a winner for my wardrobe.

Today, I hucked the cute-new dress into the washer, then pulled it out of the dryer, and found a MINI-cute dress. I was speechless. As I went to put it in the basket, I noticed instantly that the dang dress was several inches shorter than it was 60 minutes prior to its fateful soaking.

It is now Kimberly's cute-new dress. To say she is excited is a mere understatement. She did tell me she felt bad that I had only gotten to wear it once. Cheers to thoughtful daughter!

Can I also just add that my sadness extends to this simple fact -- that she is old enough for a women's size large dress (granted, a shrunken large, but you get the idea). P.s. She is only 2 women's sizes smaller than me in shoe size. ...and she is already just shy of 5 feet tall.

I heard someone say once that time goes really slow when you have little ones because the days seem to just drag on. and on. and on. But once they start school, it goes by really fast. I can certainly testify to that.

Now I am in the market for a new-cute dress.

Freaky Friday

2011-04-17T16:21:00.005-06:00

On Friday, Kimberly and Alicia had a mother/daughter achievement day activity where we had to dress up like the other, you know, like the Freaky Friday movie.

I gave the girls free reign to any and all of my clothes and I tried to squeeze into some of their clothes. No such luck. Next best idea was trying to find something somewhat teenybopper in my closet. Success! The girls approved of my outfit, and I did eventually find one of Alicia's vests that fit me (sort of).

Kind of funny seeing my clothes on a curve-less version of me.

Also of note this week was Natalie's 4th birthday.

John was pleased to find out Natalie insisted on Blue frosting. Even after her older sisters tried to talk her into fabulous pink frosting, she was not deterred. And she wanted the castle cake, which Kimberly so kindly helped me with.

I have spent my free time whipping up this fort for Natalie. Isn't it cute? I remember having one when I was little and we played in it all the time (it's just one of those forts that goes over a card table), so when I got a sewing machine and found a cute tutorial online, I knew I had to make one.

It's a hit, thank goodness.

Spring Break, New Mexico Style

2011-04-11T09:43:00.009-06:00

I love long road trips.

What other way can one go from mountainous desert, to rolling hills, desert nothingness with tumbleweeds, and back up into the mountain terrain with beautiful trees all in one day?

So, when John found out he needed to be down in New Mexico for another business trip, and it just so happened to coincide with our Spring Break, I hopped on the traveling bandwagon.

I love the fact that Utah is surrounded by so many amazing states and places to see and do within just a days' drive, of which we have been to many, but surprisingly, New Mexico has never been on my list of places to visit, probably just because I didn't know very much about the state.

Now that I know what a fabulous place it is, let me try and entice you to this great deserty place with the following spiel.

It helped that we were staying up in the mountains as the southern part of the state is a tad on the dry, flat, and tumble-weedy side of things, as evidenced below -

- as seen from the canyon drive up to our pad. Yup, definitely desertish,

especially when compared to this luscious area right next to our condo.

However, amidst the desert land is this national park - full of white sand dunes you can sled down. In fact, scroll back up the the picture of my girls in the canyon two pictures above - see that strip of white in the very top of the picture? That is White Sands National Park.

Can you believe that?

We had so much fun that we went back for a second time in the evening after John got off work.

We had 3 days to play together as a family before John had to be to work, so on one of the days, we hiked on some of the trails near our condo, which led us to these old railroad trestles, one a little more crumbled than the other.

We were looking for a geocache amidst this trestle rubble, which is why we are climbing all over it.

While hiking into town, we ran into a few houses like this one with very interesting versions of foundation set on the hillside.

Anyone interested in purchasing this baby?

The song How Firm a Foundation comes to mind right about now.

Back in desertville, we encountered some really fascinating petroglyphs dating way back - there were literally hundreds of them along the hiking trail, so the girls were in heaven. It was like a huge scavenger hunt.

I of course got a sunburn that day because I left the sunscreen back at the condo. oops.

Here is just one of the 40 pictures John took of various cool carvings in the rocks. Aren't you glad I'm not making you look at all of them? You are just going to have to trek down there and see them for yourself.

The highlight of the trip though was down in a little spot out in the middle of nowhere just north of the Texas border -

Carlsbad Caverns.

We drove nearly 3 hours to get there, then spent four hours down below in the caves just wandering around in pure wonderment of the beauty and hugeness of a world completely hidden from sunlight.

Here is the entrance. Funny story, as we started walking down into the dark unknown territory, Natalie started walking slower and slower until she finally quit walking altogether, made an abrupt about-face and informed us she was going home! John luckily worked his magic on her and convinced her otherwise, especially when she started seeing all of the cool things inside.

None of our pictures even do the caverns justice, so I won't even bother posting any, other than this one of us standing in the caves.

Suffice it to say, it truly was a most amazing place.

Alas, when the week ended, we had to leave John and the sunshine so he could finish out his business trip and the girls could return to school. We commenced the 15-hour drive back, this time breaking it up into 2 days and with the help of one of my neighbors who happened to spend the week visiting her sister in Albuquerque and was looking for a cheap ride home. Win-win for both of us!

Back to Utah and reality, just in time for the snowy weekend. Sunny New Mexico, I miss you!!

Ouch.

2011-03-30T15:38:00.006-06:00

Fourteen years and four kids later, the inevitable finally happened.

Our first broken bone. Poor Kimberly.

How did my ever-so-cautious 11-year-old break her finger you ask?

sigh.

Goofing off with her best friend during drama practice at school.

You gotta' love those phone calls from the school:

8:40 a.m.
"Mom?" "Can you come pick me up?"
"Why, what's up - didn't I just drop you off?"
"I broke my finger."
"WHAT!?!?!? Are you sure?"
"Um,...yah...the finger is facing a different direction from the other fingers."
"I'll be right there."

March - In Like a Lion and Still Going.

2011-03-24T14:23:00.005-06:00

March has wooshed in like a lion for us, though as March comes to a close, there doesn't seem to be a lamb anywhere in sight as we're getting pounded with yet another storm.

The month started out with Kimberly's 11th Birthday. We celebrated as a family at Chuck E Cheese - her choice, not ours by any means. Afterwards, we dug into this yummy looking cake with mounds of flowered frosting.

She is getting older as we inhale. In fact, one of those boxes holds a couple new t-shirts for her, and sadly, I did not buy them in the kids section. yes, that's right folks, she has moved into the older girls section. yikes! (notice I can't say the T word. t_ _ n _ _ _ r )

As for the rest of the month, we spent a healthy amount of time in Salt Lake City at the Energy Solutions Arena for these two events (guess which one John enjoyed more) -

Grandma Lynn treated us to Disney on Ice. The girls were in heaven.

Disney Princess Heaven that is.
(you can't see Alicia - she is on the other side of Grandma)

A couple weeks later, Rock 'n' Roll Heaven for the parental side of the family -

Bon Jovi is John's absolute favorite singer and band, so when he came to SLC on tour about 8 years ago, of course we went. Having never been to a real rock concert before, I learned really quick that rock concerts are very, Very, VERY loud. I came prepared this time around with my magical earplugs - the very thing that allowed me to actually make it to the end of the concert without ringing ears like the first time around. Don't worry, I only put them in for about 4 songs, but trust me, it helped immensely.

Interestingly, Bon Jovi has been rocking for 27 years, so there was a wide range of people at the concert - from teens, to twentysomethings, to us thirtyish ones, even couples in their 40s and 50s.

It was a very good concert indeed, especially since we got to enjoy a night out without kidlets (thanks grandma rimington) and attempt to feel younger again. We sat next to another couple that looked just like us - in their thirties, married, probably had kids - they rocked out about as much as we did.

and Lastly, what would a blog post be without a few snippets of Megan's latest (mis) adventures?

We enjoyed a trip out to one of the local frozen yogurt shops where Megan Really enjoyed hers.

...and here are the more civilized of the natives. well, maybe just a little more civilized.

I think that's it for the month. Until next time, I'll keep singing with Bon Jovi,
It's My Life -
It's now or never - wo, ooh,
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive,
It's My Life!

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

2011-03-16T22:40:00.006-06:00

So John and I have a problem.

A problem with this particular family member -

I am not kidding you - she is an accident magnet, and we've only owned her for 8 months! You've heard of lemon cars. Well, we seem to have the exact opposite problem. She keeps garnering the attention of other cars who just can't seem to stay out of her personal space.

Another car sideswiped her frontal region in January. Sadly, the other car didn't even stay long enough to apologize. He simply sped off with only his mark on her front bumper as a witness (actually, to be more specific, her bra. I can't even begin to share with you her feelings of violation). Ever onward to court next month to remedy that situation.

In the interim while waiting for that unpleasant event so we can recoop the funds from the other car owner to pay for her repairs, another car just couldn't withstand her pull. An Oldsmobile Alero could not resist the temptation of giving her a love tap in the rear end at the church parking lot tonight where a 16-year-old driver backed up into our too-beautiful-for-her-own good set of wheels. I mean really, Really?? Why can't the other cars just keep their bumpers to themselves because this is getting really tiresome.

Now if we can just keep the other gawkers away from our baby. I guess we're just getting a little advance preparation for our girls' dating years coming just around the corner.

Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom

2011-03-09T13:12:00.012-07:00

I have a confession to make. Something I have been too ashamed to do anything about for some time. Okay, if we're being honest here, which I am, I will confess that it has actually been a problem for the last 10 years (did I really just write that out loud?).

I can't be too hard on myself because really, it happens to the best of us.

In fact, a few of you might be experiencing the same problem as I. Come on now, join with me as we proceed to count all of the t-shirts in our closets. That's right, my everyday wardrobe consists solely of t-shirts and jeans. I have become the classical stay-at-home mom in whatever is comfiest. I may venture out and buy a different color, or even - gasp - a v-neck or two, but really, my shirts are all the same.

I have decided my current clothing status has not been due to lack of interest - trust me, every time John and I have a hot date, I stare at my less-than-impressive choices and wish I had something a little more classy to wear. It really boils down to two things: cost and wearability (you know, comfyness). First off, boring t-shirts frankly cost less than their fancy counterparts. When I only get claim to our clothing budget every few months - now that four girls seem to have taken over that budget category - I am usually trying to get the most for my buck, so enter a few t-shirts into the equation and I'm good to go.

My friend suggested I try shopping at Ross, where they have a lot of designer shirts (aka more fancy) for a fraction of their normal cost. I reluctantly drove by my favorite clothing stores to give Ross a try last night since this month I finally had access to the clothing budget - all of it - which is due cause for celebration because miraculously, nary a girl is in immediate need of tights, pants, or shoes. I figured I better run as fast as I could to use my budget before someone even sounded the ouch word when it came to their digits getting scunched in too-small shoes or unwittingly getting a a hole in yet another pair of pants.

Upon entering the store, I retrieved a cart and proceeded to the women's shirt section, where to my surprise I found quite a few options I liked, all for around $10 a piece! I began filling my cart with options because I decided I was going to be bold and try on stylish pieces I may not have normally considered. Before I knew it, I had about 40 shirts in the cart (no really, I'm not kidding). I decided I better go try them on and widdle my selection down to a more manageable number (you know, like 5, so I wouldn't have to obliterate the grocery budget for the month too while I was at it).

Surprisingly, I fell in love with 6 very stylish shirts, all within my budget (a few of the shirts were even priced at $7, money savings to my happy wallet) and they are NOT t-shirts! At first, I was a little unsure if this find -

- would even look good on, but wa-la, it looks very stylin', don't you think?

and this one...

and these ...

okay, so maybe this one looks more t-shirty than the others, but see the cool design on the bodice? Hard to tell in the picture, but definitely un-t-shirt like.

and sadly, I may be regretting this shirt choice because every time I have put it on since coming home, it feels strangely like a maternity shirt with the flowing front area. I may have to rethink my decision on this one - good thing the tag is still on.

and for my hot date on Friday night with my fabulously hot husband, this sexy number...

(okay, so the date only consists of dinner out, but still, a hot date nonetheless).

Now it is on to buying new swimming suits and spring clothes for the girls in the upcoming months. By the time John and I catch a glimpse of the the clothing budget again, which given summer clothes and new school clothes and shoes after that, probably won't be until November, perhaps it will have been long enough for me to talk John into getting a purple tie and shirt. Not counting my eggs before they hatch though.

Some Snippets of Randomness

2011-02-28T17:07:00.004-07:00

I had to snap this shot of Natalie in action last week - This describes our Rimington girls to a T. The epitome of girliness, while still doing boy-type things. and no, this was not right after church. She wanted to wear a dress and her fancy shoes on a Saturday.

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

I may have rubbed off a little on Kimberly with my new hobby -

While I was working on Easter skirt #2 last week, Kimberly started sewing her own Barbie clothes. Guess I won't have to worry about sewing any, huh.

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

And here you get a brief glimpse into daddy/daughter time at the Rimington household -

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

I saved the best for last. I think John's had a nice and relaxingly long break since his last home improvement project, so he's set out to work on the next one. Once he picked up the freshly minted business license from Layton City, I set to work clearing this space aside in the basement.

With this space now cleared, we can start moving the items from the corner of the other side of the basement (see below) so John can start building Kimberly's bedroom. Current plans are to be done by the summer. Kimberly is more than anxious to move into her own pad and be able to stop sharing her things with her 17-month-old sister.

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us.

Thank You Mr. President.

2011-02-23T11:30:00.014-07:00

Specifically, President Roosevelt for setting aside a ton of national forest areas for us to enjoy.

We decided to honor his legacy and all other Presidents on Monday (since remember, John now gets every famous and unfamous government holiday off - woo-hoo) by enjoying those national forests with a bit of adventure -

Snow mobiling up Logan Canyon. We dropped off the two youngest girls at Grandma's house (thank you very much mom rimington) and sped on up to the lodge where we rented two snowmobiles and the fresh layers of powder from the weekend snow falls were just calling our name.

That is until 5 minutes into the adventure when I got my snowmobile stuck. oops. and then John got his snowmobile stuck trying to get mine unstuck. enter gps thingy the lodge gave us if we needed rescuing.

At this point I was wondering how many more times we would need the rescue beacon and $20 each time they had to come rescue us.

Anyway, after we were thus rescued, we forged ahead on some beautiful trails just laden with fluffy snow, and beautiful trees and valleys lining each side of the trail. I was thinking as I sped along with my speedster and Alicia behind me how much I love, love, love living in Utah with all of the magnificent snow activities just minutes from our house, then when we hit warmer months, beautiful hiking trails, then of course in the summer, camping, campfires, smores, beach fun at the lakes. I need to stop there. Now I'm getting all giddy for summertime. Reigning myself back in for the wintertime fun. Isn't it nice to have seasons?

So, we were all the way in the deep forests of Idaho, having crossed the border about halfway through the trek when we decided to turn around. Before doing so, John found a nice meadow where he could power his way through the thigh-deep snow. He did encounter one minor problem - a tree . To his credit, he was trying to turn, but with the deep snow, was having slight technical trouble. Kimberly and I watched as the tree shuddered when John and Alicia ran into it. Poor tree. Poor us having to dig ourselves out. No, we didn't have to page the rescue squad that time.

We actually discovered this place 12 years ago when we were still going to school up in Logan.

When we were finished on Monday, John asked me why we hadn't thought to do this sooner since we had so much fun. I had to remind him of the many years I spent either pregnant or nursing a baby. Now that we've had our last and she is well past nursing, we are excited about being in this next stage of life when we can enjoy such adventures.

Three Generations

2011-02-15T15:43:00.011-07:00

Who knew when my mom learned to ski on the slopes at Brighton Ski Resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon that she would be skiing in that exact location down the road with her daughter and her granddaughter.

My mom came to visit this last weekend, so we decided to take advantage of all the Utah snow they keep hyping about in the TV ads. Trust me, the hype is well-justified. Nothing sweeter than a luscious trail of powdery fluff for us ski bums to plow our way through (okay, literally, Kimberly plowed, while my mom carved beautiful parallel patterns - and me, somewhere in between).

In other news on the Rimington front, I am currently on a loaner computer because our hard drive completely failed. Yup. Kapoot. No workee. Adios computer files. Sigh. New computer parts, here we come - in about a week. And it's only a 50 percent chance we'll be able to recover our data from said failed hard drive. Technology is a beautiful thing, ain't it?

Pink gets Even Pinker

2011-02-10T09:03:00.005-07:00

I started another sewing project.

Using a lot of this -

And some of this -

TA-DA! I worked on it last night and am thrilled with the results. I'm also thankful both my mom and mom-in-law were only a phone call away when I had questions throughout the evening.

I'm making Easter skirts for the girls - and myself. Alicia was the first 'victim', only because when I cut the skirt out, intending it to be for Kimberly, it was a few inches shy of covering her glutious maximus, so it became Alicia's skirt. Now onto the next 4 skirts. Good thing Easter is still two months away.

And given that ALL of the girls in this family (yes, that would be 5 out of the 6 of us) will be in pink for Easter, it seemed only fitting for John to match us. Guess how long it took me to talk John into buying this tie...

I can't wait for Easter to be upon so we can show up at church in all of our pink glory!

Wait. Clearly the skirts are slightly more coral than John's bright pink tie. We may have to make some slight adjustments.

A Lot of Sweaty Writing

2011-02-07T09:12:00.010-07:00

I've been knee-deep in sweat and working on a hefty story this past week, so therefore, no recent blog postings. I've started a new workout program called Insanity. I can assure you it lives up to its name and I have been sweating in bucketfuls.

In the hours of recovery from that lovely activity, I have been working on this story that landed itself on the front cover of Sunday's newspaper. After 8 interviews, 8 pages of typed notes and 2 pages of handwritten ones, I finally had all of the information I needed to write up the investigative piece my editor gave me at the beginning of the week. I may have stirred up some controversy, but all in a day's work as a journalist, right?

http://www.standard.net/topics/education/2011/02/05/teaching-webcam-reaches-larger-audience-students

As for the rest of my time, I'm usually trying to keep up with this gal, who at nearly 16 months is finally walking.

...and this is the side I usually see the most of as she is always off and running to find the next something or other to get into.

Wait - I did get her to stop for a minute -

She's smiling because she knows what trouble she will be getting into next and what joy I will have cleaning up that trouble.

Anyway, now that I'm done with this blog session, the moment I've been dreading all morning has arrived - another round of Insanity.

My New Addiction

2011-01-27T12:35:00.006-07:00

Cookie Dough Brownies.

I am addicted to these tasty beauties.
(along with just a few other addictions that shall remain nameless).

Two of my favorite things in the world - cookie dough and homemade brownies. Why didn't I think of combining these two heavenly creations sooner?!? Pure bliss to my utterly delighted taste buds.

I have been trying to lose the last of the lingering baby pounds (thank you very much Megan). This creation is not helping. No, not one bit.

I will share my recipe with you, but only after you have read the following:

WARNING: Do not come begging to me for help when you find yourself with an addiction on your hands, dreaming of eating them, and finding yourself counting down the minutes before inserting said addiction into your mouth just frothing with desire. Because if you do, I will merely hand over a plateful of these goodies and tell you to continue enjoying such delicious yumminess.

Consider yourself warned.

First off, I start out with this oh-so-delic fudgy-like brownies:

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup (2 cubes) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and remove from heat when chips are fully melted. In the same pot, blend in the sugar. Then add eggs, blending fully one at a time. Add flour and salt and beat until air bubbles form in the batter. Pour into greased 9x13-inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 325 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes.

I have absolutely no idea why it calls for the changing of the guard on the oven, but I do as I'm told, and they turn out splendidly. This is the exact reason why I very nearly failed Nutrition 101. I mean, really, how hard is it to study food? I am here to testify that learning about food is several notches above Chemistry 101. Apparently, there is a lot of chemical reactions in food. I can still remember my feeling of dread on the first day as I realized it was definitely not going to be the easy general ed class I thought it was going to be.

'Nuff said on that matter.

As if the brownie layer wasn't good enough on its own, we add the heavenly layer of cookie dough on top. Mind you, because this is cookie dough, the brownies need to be stored in the fridge, that is if they are not completely gobbled up by the natives in one sitting. At first, I was discouraged because the fridge made the brownies hard and not as appealing.

Enter the reason why I am addicted -

Warm up your piece of brownie ever so slightly in the microwave, just enough to melt the chocolate chips in the cookie dough layer and gradually let the cookie dough spill over the sides of the brownie layer. Utter divineness right there my friends.

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla (or in my case, the imitation kind - why would I ever pay a fortune for real vanilla? I've tasted the stuff, and its not as great as they claim)
3/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoons over cooled brownies. Carefully spread over top (slightly tricky - just get a wooden spoon or spatula slightly wet and smooth out).

I have to confess, for the cookie dough layer, I found it didn't make quite enough, so I did another 1/2 of the recipe - not double, just half, (totally 1 1/2) and that was more than enough.

Now for the moment of truth. Take a bite. I am slightly afraid you may never forgive me for bringing these into your life. Once you taste it, you will never be able to go back. So just keep that in mind if you dare delve into these. I did warn you.

Snow and Boys.

2011-01-25T09:03:00.009-07:00

It's snowing today.
Finally.

Good thing too, because the rain last week wreaked havoc on the existing snow and pretty soon my yard was naked, er, rather, the deadly winterized grass was revealed. Here's to hoping I get to use the snow blower today. I may have to duke it out later with John. Better go beef up my muscles now.

Snow - lots of it - means we get to do things like this...

Which, as most of you all know, can lead to a broken back or two. You'd think John would be adverse to sledding as a result, but no, you can still find him doing this a time or two, or three or four...

Actually, it kind of worked out for my benefit. It is what is allowing me to take the girls up skiing when they get old enough. Originally John thought skiing might be a little too "dangerous." Who knew the sled had other plans for him a few years back.

And of course, I couldn't resist taking pictures of these cuties. I couldn't seem to get the older two to stop sledding long enough for a picture. So don't go thinking I love them any less. Because I don't.

Moving on.

In case you're wondering what in the world boys have to do with snow, well, it doesn't.

However, Kimberly is getting a little too close to boys for my comfort level doing things like this...

and a little of this too...

Remember when I told you at the beginning of the school year Kimberly signed up for every activity possible at school? This is one of them. Ballroom Dancing, which she loves, loves, loves. I'm glad she enjoys it, but one thing we get to do as part of the activity is venture out to a few ballroom dancing competitions (didn't realize I signed up for that part of it). At the recent competition, her team won a silver ribbon and the school won the spirit award.

Fun Times Indeed.

A Little of This, a Little of That

2011-01-16T15:16:00.017-07:00

Megan's Shot of the Week.
I'm really trying very hard to make sure the youngest Rimington doesn't get the raw end of the deal when it comes to family album portion space.

And in other news on the Megan front, she has finally decided to up and start walking on us this past week at 15 - 1/2 months.
She is sure growing up fast.

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

I have learned a couple things from a recent ski outing with Kimberly I wanted to share with you.

#1) Always Listen To Your Mother. She's Usually Right.

When she tells you to grab your coat on the way out to the car,
it's usually a good idea.
Good thing I had an extra sweatshirt to share with Kimberly when we discovered her blunder up at the ski place.

#2) Never say, 'I Can't'. I watched yesterday as a blind woman skied down the hill and several others who couldn't walk ski happily down the hill. I will never say 'I Can't' again.

The blind woman was skiing behind her partner as he skied with his poles behind him, tapping them steadily the entire way down the mountain so she knew where to ski.

As for the ones who couldn't walk, they sat in toboggan like things with little skis in each hand with someone pushing their sled thing down the hill. The person pushing would tell the rider which hand to use for their mini-ski so they could help in the skiing process.

I was sincerely humbled at how much I am able to do and yet I still complain at times or think I can't do something.
(No John, you do not get to make a comment here.)

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

And last, but not least,

Drum Roll Please,

I am no longer the primary chorister.
Shocker, I know, but after nearly 3 years (and 3 primary programs), I have been released and have a perfectly lovely, non-demanding calling now as the ward music chairman.
Can you even ask for a better calling?
I think not.

...Till We Meet Again

2011-01-10T09:28:00.008-07:00

We said goodbye to our cute sister and Aunt Tamara on Sunday before she heads off on her mission to the MTC this week, then on to California. Words can't express how much we will miss her bright, sunny personality. It's already hard having her twin brother gone on his mission (yup, you guessed it - in California too - twins just cannot be separated very far!)

On a total side note, do you guys see my chick boots? I got them a couple months ago on a total whim to boost my chickness. (and to keep my feet warm while walking to church in snow-covered sidewalks). I was tired of wet nylons and freezing feet each week. Glad I was able to finally remedy that situation.

I've Been Busy

2011-01-03T21:49:00.010-07:00

So, I took the Christmas break seriously and took time off from my newspaper writing. I didn't feel guilty in the least because trying to conduct interviews on the phone with my herd in the background is next to impossible. Therefore, I had a little time on my hands to work on some crafting projects, starting with this baby -

My friend showed me this darling crayon roll pattern and we knew we had to make some for our 3-year-olds. So two days before Christmas, we spent the evening sewing. We were a sight to behold because it was like the blind trying to lead the blind. We are both just beginner sewers, so it was absolutely hilarious trying to first get our sewing machines to work, then trying to figure out the pattern, then sewing them babies up. Once we got them done though, we were glowing with pride with our finished products (a mere two hours later!) Isn't it cute...

I put it in our church bag for Natalie to use and she was so excited to have a little "home" for each of her crayons - making sure to put each crayon back into its spot after she was done using it.

Next up on my project list was this -

I have been just itching to get a hold of my crotchet needles again, especially when I found the pattern for this cute toddlers hat. I spent one whole morning while John was hooking up the new dishwasher just trying out different crotchet flower patterns to find ones I liked. (Guess who had more fun. however, now our dishes actually get clean...thank you my man.)

Natalie is thrilled with her new hat and now the older girls want one too. I bought some fun yarn for them - now I just need to figure out how to make the hat pattern a little bigger for their heads.

And lastly, I finished up an I Spy Bag just as the break ended.

Of course, my perfectionist nature is getting the best of me and I want to redo this bag using a thicker flannel and sew up the bag, then turn it inside-out for a cleaner edge. No worries though - any excuse to get the sewing machine back out again. You should see the next sewing project on my list - a card table house. Don't expect to see any pictures soon. I may be working on it for the next few months.

Now its back to reality this week with John back at work, story deadlines looming, helping girls with homework, and piano lessons.

And can I just say, this posting is completely ironic to me because as most of you probably know, sewing was not up my alley a few years ago. Funny how things can change.

One Joyous Day

2010-12-27T19:30:00.011-07:00

We had a joyous Christmas this year.

I especially enjoyed myself because compared to last year when I was only getting a few hours of sleep at night with a newborn babe and still adjusting to the new addition, I was so much more relaxed this year. A joyous Christmas for sure.

Here were some of the highlights:

I'm sure most of you know the story of our strings started by my great-grandpa during the great depression - since they only had one gift each, my great-grandpa would "help" Santa use string to reach their one gift, therefore extending the Christmas fun. Over the years, my grandma continued this tradition with her kids, my mom continued it with us, and we have continued with our kids. Usually the largest or most exciting gift is at the end of the string.

Here is Alicia with the epitome of joy reaction caught on camera -

And here are the girls with each of their end-of-the-string gifts:

Kimberly got a used pair of skis. In Utah, they give 5th graders a free season's pass for all of the ski resorts, so we thought it would be a good time to get her started. She is signed up for lessons in January, so I get to go up skiing every Saturday. To say I am excited is a pure understatement. I am giddy with joy. I love skiing having learned how to ski at the age of 12 with my mom. Now I am just praying the weather cooperates. Driving and skiing in yucky weather is never fun.

After the string fun, the gift fest began. Megan was more than ready -

Here are the pillowcases I made for the girls with my new (used) sewing machine. Yup, I am definitely addicted to sewing and have several projects lined up in the coming weeks.

My mom (the one who originally taught me how to sew, but I poo-pooed the idea when I was younger) sewed dresses for all my girls (Megan's dress was on the sidelines during this picture). They looked so pretty on Sunday, but of course, I forgot to pull out the camera, so I will have to take pics the next time they are all dressed up for church.

Here is me hard at work (it looks like Megan is helping too) with the gift John gave me:
In the background are the skis I got too, a very used pair of shaped skis since I've only owned the straight kind. Having rented shaped skis in the past few years, I can definitely say, shaped skis are the ONLY way to go. In fact, DI doesn't even take skis that are over 10 years old. Mine were about 20. Off to the dump they went.

John bought me a Lego set from Downtown Disney. A Seattle Space Needle to be exact. And yes, I had to put it together myself, but of course, John was right by my side if I needed any help.

It was a Success:

After we spend the morning and afternoon recouping from all the fun, we join up with the Rimington Clan for Christmas Dinner. Here are the grand kids (minus a few) in their Christmas pajamas. So cute!

A very fine day indeed.

Gingerbread Houses - Another Successful Year

2010-12-20T09:15:00.007-07:00

Gingerbread houses are an annual tradition for us. This year, I made sure to take John with me to get candy as he has not appreciated my candy selection in years past (apparently the gummy bear year was not a hit for him. For the record, the kids liked having gummy bears to ice skate on their ponds). Anyway, we had a much better candy selection this year thanks to John. Good thing too because he is the gingerbread house expert having done them with his family all growing up.

Megan made short work of the marshmallows.

Okay, technically we did not use actual gingerbread for the houses. Thankfully, the Graham Cracker makers clued in and made specialized gingerbread crackers this year.

The Final Products:

On a side note: another Christmas tradition for us is making fudge. I whipped up a batch last night and discovered something unpleasant...I had a few small bites, and my stomach went into rebellion with the sugar overload. I was appalled! How dare my stomach betray me like that. In all fairness to my beloved keeper of food, there are 4 1/2 cups of sugar, 3 cups chocolate chips, 2 sticks of butter, and marshmallow cream in the fudge. Sure fire way for me to stay away from the dang stuff over the next few days if I don't want a tummy ache.

Another Crafty Hit

2010-12-17T16:00:00.004-07:00

I was in charge of the craft today at Alicia's class Christmas party. We made marshmallow snowman.

It was a hit. Even better - it filled the entire allotted amount for each station. Nothing worse than bringing a craft that only takes 2 minutes, then having the kids endure my entertainment for the next 8 minutes.

Speaking of crafts, all of the 5th graders at Kimberly's school recently had an economics fair. Each student was responsible for making 24 items, or 12 and 12. They had to document how much everything cost, figure out how much to charge for the items, and how many of them actually sold. Kimberly sold out of her reindeer pens, which were pretty beastly to make.

I wish I could say my daughters inherited their craftiness from me, but alas, I think I got my craftiness from them.

Cops Everywhere!

2010-12-11T12:23:00.004-07:00

This is the sight I got to behold in the wee hours of morning today. I was looking forward to a nice, sleep-in (if you can call 8:30 a.m. sleeping in) and relaxing Saturday morning to make up for the disaster experience I had yesterday with all 4 of my girls at the UPS store (think girls playing in the shipping popcorn, and that about sums up my experience).

Bus alas, it was not to be so. One of my editors called and asked if I would cover the Shop With a Cop event early this morning. I had done my prep work and chatted with the head-honcho in charge knowing full well they do a procession with nearly 50 (trust me, I counted) sheriff cars, patrol cars, dare cars, and paramedics filled with kids in need all headed for a local Walmart with $100 gift certificates donated by local businesses and individuals (which for the first time included a check from us after being slightly guilted into it during a phone request last week).

My timing was impeccable as I got off the freeway just in time to be stopped at the light while all of the law enforcement cars proceeded past me. I was surprised at how emotional I was seeing all of the lights flashing and sirens blaring with kids' excited eyes peering out the windows. Nothing like getting a front row seat.

After all the cars parked in the Walmart parking lot, we watched and I held onto my notes for dear life as the life-flight helicopter descended with Santa Claus in tow. It was such an awe-inspiring event to which I was very grateful I had gotten up in the wee-hours to witness.

My awe-inspiring glow all but dissipated when I came home to clean up the swimming pool created from the overflowing toilet water in the bathroom while listening to the strains of girls fighting upstairs. *sigh* At least now the floor is clean and the din has finally come down a notch as the girls quietly eat their lunch. Nothing like a bunch of food to keep my girls' mouths occupied.

Lights, lights, and more lights.

2010-12-07T14:28:00.010-07:00

Our tree has over 1,000 lights on it. Just thought you'd like to know.

It's a real tree.

With real pine needles.

Worried about our house getting burned down?

Needn't be. They are all LED and since they don't emit heat like the other ones, John lovingly filled my tree with massive amounts of lights because he knows how much I love a well-lit tree. He loves me. Good thing too, because I love him **THIS** much.

...and he even gives in to my need for a real tree every year, even if the fake trees are looking more and more realistic these days. It's still just not the same. Thanks dear.

Festival of Trees

2010-12-02T15:21:00.003-07:00

We always go down to the Festival of Trees for Christmas and this year was no exception. This year the girls performed at the Festival with their school choir. Even better - a two-for-one event! And even better than that, they got to do it with some of their dear friends (Evie and Lizzie Tesch).

Speaking of friends, I have to put in a little side note here on how grateful I am that my girls have such neat friends. We live in a wonderful neighborhood where they are surrounded by some wonderful gals their age.

Back to the Festival - Megan only allowed us to stay for about an hour looking at trees before she informed us with her high-pitched squeals that it was time to go. Before heading out, we quickly grabbed our usual scones still hot and covered with a scrumptious sugar coating and then made our way over to the kids craft corner - the highlight of our girls' evening.

They are in craft heaven every year with about 15 different crafts to choose from. (If you don't remember, see my posting a few down about having all girls and the amazing craft messes that are produced). Megan thankfully obliged her sisters by playing contently with John for a few minutes while they made small purses, fur friends, and sand necklaces.

Seeing all the decked out trees makes me start pining over our tree, which thankfully will be retrieved tomorrow from the local Christmas Tree Farm.

Snow Games

2010-12-01T11:07:00.003-07:00

We've been enjoying the snow here and I am starting to see, smell, and hear things that all remind me of skiing. I am looking forward to hitting the slopes again this year, but until then, there is always the fox and chicken game...

John remembers playing the game growing up, so when his brother mentioned he had set it up with his kids recently in the snow, John had to introduce the girls. The girls have protected the back yard for days now making sure it was footprint-free so they could play the game yesterday evening.

It was a hit - chicken squawking and all.

Odds and Ends

2010-11-27T10:27:00.003-07:00

A few bits of miscellaneous items:

Miscellaneous #1: Our Christmas Shopping is 90% done. I am now an official online shopper. It all began 3 years ago when we saw a nice GPS for a great deal at one of the Black Friday sales. John got up early to pick up his Guitar Hero Wii stuff, then headed over to Office Max to pick up the GPS only to find out it was a bait and switch tactic. He tried a couple other stores, but they were either all gone or it wasn't a very good deal. I remember being quite sad as I had my heart set on one. Online shopping saved the day when we got an even better deal shopping from the comfort of our own home.

Then last year when we were hibernating with baby Megan, I did almost all of our shopping online. Now I'm just plain sold on sitting down at the computer and doing my shopping with a few clicks and - DONE - no more hopping across town from store to store. I even had John sit down and pick out the things he wanted to get. One stop shopping is my way to go - and we got some great stuff on sale with free shipping. For me, it can't possibly get any better than this.

Miscellaneous #2: I am now the proud owner of a Pfaff Sewing Machine, the only sewing machine I can actually sew on. And trust me, I've tried a lot - Bernina, Singer, Wal-Mart Special, etc. and for some reason, my non-sewer hands keep gravitating towards the Pfaff and its miraculous helper foot thingie behind the main sewer foot, thus making my sewing actually look good.

Over the years, we have continually borrowed my sweet mother-in-laws machine and every time reminding ourselves we really needed to get our own. Don't get me wrong, we have tried finding a nicely priced used one, but had no such luck, so when my neighbor said she was just going to drop her slightly used Pfaff at the DI unless I wanted it, I told her I'd be right over.

I hope you are sitting down for this announcement because it is so shocking....

I plan on making a few Christmas gifts on my sewing machine as soon as I get it back from the guy giving it a tune-up. I know, shocking, but I found some easy patterns that I'm excited to try. I will post pictures after Christmas as several of my blog readers will be my sewing gift recipients.

Miscellaneous #3: We had a fabulous Thanksgiving, filled with plenty of food and even better, surrounded by family. At one point during our feasting, a young woman came into the church house where we were at practically in tears because she couldn't find her family. She thought they were also celebrating at a local church house, but couldn't find them. I haven't forgotten how sad she looked and hope she found her family. I was grateful I knew where my family was and even those who were celebrating far away, they were close to my heart.

I think that's enough miscellaneous for now. Off to continue relaxing and fighting off the pumpkin pie temptations.

"But, It's Too Cold For a Parade!"

2010-11-20T14:06:00.008-07:00

...this said by Kimberly as we bundled up with our parade blankets, gloves, hats and scarfs on the way to a parade in Layton celebrating the opening of the new freeway interchange and the road work on Main Street leading up to it.

I had to cover the event for my paper anyway, so I hauled all of the kids too so they could enjoy the massive amounts of free food they were handing out. I mean good stuff too - entire muffins, large pieces of yummy cake, popcorn, hot chocolate, cotton candy...my kids made out like bandits, and the cold was no longer an issue for them.

The parade was fun and not too long - even better. Of course, candy is essential for parades, and this one was no exception. It was pretty funny watching the kids trying to navigate candy wrappers with their gloves.

And who gets to see a parade with Santa waving from the driver's seat of a humungo front loader? (sorry no pics). I herded my crew over to see the lighting ceremony after the parade, then off to see Santa in one of the stores. When all was said and done, a very fun morning.

I think perhaps a big-miss-someone may be getting a titch too big for the big fellas lap.

And of course, no sign of Natalie going anywhere near Santa.
Does this really come as a surprise?

And in case you all were wondering, I have survived John's business trip as he comes home this afternoon - Yay! And just in case you missed it the first time, that would be YAY!! (yes, in very capital letters). Sadly, he may have another one in December, but I'll try not to think too much about that.

Since my Grandpa Joe needed to go to Virgina for a week, my Grandma Lynn joined me for a few days. We had a wonderful time, even enjoying a play put on by our stake last night. She also got up this morning and made Swedish hotcakes for us all. For those who may not know, this is a much-loved tradition I absolutely love about my grandma. I may have to have her come down more often when John is out of town.

A Glimpse into Our Life with All Girls...

2010-11-15T23:04:00.014-07:00

Only one suit in the mix - poor John surrounded by dress fluff.

I was reading some of my friends blogs recently, (yup, it could even have been yours, oh fellow blog reader of mine), when I was hit with the realization that my life raising all girls is quite different when compared to families who have sons added into the mix. I had read a blog about one family's adventures with wrestling and basketball camp. I headed onto another blog reading about cub scouts, another with their son decked out looking oh-so-handsome on his way to a school dance, and yet another about their son's skate boarding party.

I had an ah-ha moment. I will never, no never, experience any of those moments. My life is filled with buying frilly dresses, (and yes, I know where and when all the great dress sales are - if you're wondering, Easter and Christmas), straightening, curling, and blow drying unruly girl's hair (and constantly fixing the beautician-to-be's continual hair cuts), totally girl-themed parties, overflowing boxes of dress-up, barbie paraphernalia everywhere, too many bins to count of kitchen dishes and pretend food, and the gazillion or so craft projects laying around with the gadgets and gizmels to accompany said craft.

In fact, we were at a cabin with some friends a few months ago and I had brought a few crafts to keep the kids busy. One of the dads, who has all boys, turned to me and asked how often my girls do crafts because, and I quote, "my boys just don't do crafts - ever." What? A house without glue sticks stuck to the table, glitter on the floor, and tape, markers, crayons, etc. littering my counters causing my OCD havoc?

By no means would I change any of it. I love my girls beyond words. Besides, am I really missing out on much when I have this in my life 24/7:

We go through at least a watercolor paint tray a month (no, make that two).

Kimberly

Alicia

Alicia working on yet another craft. I buy glue in bulk.
Oh, and all forms of tape are a permanent fixture on my grocery list.

Kimberly and Alicia's room after they "decorated" it.

Kimberly and Alicia

Alicia and Kimberly in dress ups

Natalie

Alicia - notice the Barbie stuff on the bed behind her.

Not one ioda of boy costumes are found in our Halloween box :(

...and yes, you are reading the time right on this posting. It is almost midnight. I really need to get my sleepy head to bed, but I have such a hard time dragging myself up to a lonely bed while John is on business trips (see posting below).

Survival Mode

2010-11-14T22:38:00.006-07:00

I'm in survival mode right now because John is on another business trip. I need to get used to these because the current project he is on will require several more before all is said and done. So, that means, I have to learn how to make this work or I will go insane.

Things that help me survive:

* Cell phones so I can talk to John every day (not quite sure how that one is going to work out when he has to do the Italy and Australia trips, but gosh darnit, those airplane miles will sure come in handy down the road).
* Per Diem. Money in our pocket. Thanks John for eating homemade dinner at the condo rather than eating out so we can pocket the extra money not spent.
* Having older girls who can stay at home if I need to run a quick errand so I'm not having to drag the whole herd around.
* Dinner out (fast food of course so I can go through the drive thru) and movie nights with the girls. It makes the weekend manageable.
* My great family (and I'm lucky to have two sets) who have us over for dinner, let us spend time with them, and of course, long phone chats with various family members - thank goodness for unlimited long distance.
* Loving friends who invite me over for lunch, call and chat with me so I can have actual adult interaction, and help babysit my little ones so I can get out.

And last, but definitely not least, full-days at school for the older ones. I seriously was about ready to rip my hair out with the girls home early from school EVERY day last week for parent teacher conferences. Blessed quiet this week...here I come!! (That is, until 4 p.m. hits).

Learning How To Give

2010-11-09T15:12:00.005-07:00

This month is Thanksgiving, right? Which just so happens to be a compound word. Yup, dragged that word out of my junior high English memory. A time to give thanks. I just so happened to finish writing a story about one of the biggest giving projects in the world. Funny, I'd never heard of it until now. There is something wrong with this picture. Regardless, I decided to jump on the giving bandwagon and get the girls involved.

The giving project you ask? Operation Christmas Child. In a nutshell, you buy simple toys, school supplies, hygiene products and cram them into a shoe box to send to another child in another country. From my interviews, I learned that over 500,000 volunteers worldwide hand-deliver around 8 million shoe box gifts to hurting kids around the world. This year the focus will be on the children in Haiti as well as children in 100 other countries.

I decided that my girls needed to learn how to think about others this season and decided to do a box of our own. While we were driving to the dollar store on Saturday so they could spend some of their recently acquired money, I talked to them about spending some of their dollars to help fill a box for another little girl who has nothing in a different country. One daughter was more than thrilled to help out. The other daughter took a little convincing, but once we started picking things out at the store, she began warming up to the idea.

One of the gals I spoke to helped deliver some of the boxes in Jamaica. Once they got past the resort areas, their team realized how devastating life was for the children there. They were living in slums and school was held at a compound surrounded by armed guards to protect them from the gang wars. The kids had nothing in the way of school supplies, so they had no way to do their school work. The kids there were so excited to get paper from the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, as well as flip flops to cover their bare feet, and a luxury - a toothbrush that one family shared as a family since they had none.

I was touched by the stories I heard while writing my story and decided we had to participate. One of the fun parts is the program encourages you to include your photo and a letter, and in some cases, the kids receiving the boxes write back. I hope my kids have learned something from the experience because I certainly did.

If any of you are interested in participating, the official collection week is Nov. 15 - 21. There are collection sites all over the country. Click here for more details http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Pack_A_Shoe_Box/

A Tale of Two Tires...by John

2010-11-03T22:50:00.005-06:00

It was the best of roads, it was the worst of roads. Charles Dickens is rolling in his grave now! :)

Last week I had the pleasure of picking up a nail while driving through a construction zone on I15. Can you believe it, road construction in Utah! It doesn't happen very often. :) Half way through, my car started complaining about tire pressure in the right rear tire. Seriously, it knew which tire. By the time I pull over, memories of ten years earlier when I nearly cut the tread off the sidewall come back. Not a pleasant experience at freeway speeds. This time around, the tire had only deflated part way. Phew, don't need to buy a new tire!

I grew up fixing cars with my Dad, who grew up fixing cars with his Dad. Add a couple more Grandpas who have fixed a lot of cars, and I don't mind getting under the hood. It's kind of fun; I get to use repair words fixing the car! :D Anyway, I was taught that when the dash lights come on, it's too late. Many years later, I think I like these new dash lights that warn you before it's too late. Now, if I can only get the radio to work ... :)

Halloween Weekend-O-Fun (and rain)

2010-11-01T09:28:00.004-06:00

We had a great Halloween weekend. With three Halloween parties on Friday, carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating on Saturday and Finger Making on Sunday - we lived the holiday up to its fullest.

This year John decided to cut carving time in half by bringing out his power tools.

Success. We were done in an hour, as compared to our usual several-hour marathon.

Oops. I was trying to take this picture so fast in the rain, I didn't notice that Natalie is completely blocking Kimberly's fairy pumpkin. She carved most of it herself.

And speaking of rain, this is how the girls went trick-or-treating this year because of the rain. Lucky John got to go out with them. They all came home sopping wet. Luckily, their candy managed to stay dry, though I'm not sure how. Miracle from the candy goddess I'm sure.

And last, but certainly not least, the infamous fingers. This year the girls did them all by themselves. John and I have been making them together for so long, we have a good system down - John is the perfect finger maker and I am the accessories gal. However, this year we decided to let the girls completely loose and make them all by themselves. I must say, it is the funniest tray of fingers I've ever seen! I especially love Natalie's 'blob' fingers.

Now I must begin taking down all of the Halloween decor and trading it our for Thanksgiving paraphernalia. Good thing I don't have a ton of decorations.

My Crafty Side Returns

2010-10-27T09:21:00.003-06:00

My crafting dry spell is over - I finally got around to making this cute wreath with the help of my crafting friend, Melissa - a mere 6 days before Halloween! However, all that matters is that it is up in time for the cute trick or treaters coming by, right?

On another note, Megan has finally cut her top 4 teeth. She is back to her normal, happy self after a couple weeks of screaming torture for the Rimington household.

A Fulfilling Moment

2010-10-24T17:12:00.006-06:00

I have spent the last 10 months working with our primary kids, each month teaching them a new song about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It all came to fruition today for their primary program. I remember opening up the manual for this year's program about this time last year and was a little surprised at some of the song choices. All good songs of course, but some of them I wondered if the kids could learn thinking that perhaps they might be a little too difficult.

However, I dove right in and discovered a most fascinating phenomenon. Not only did they learn them easily, but with gusto - like they really believed and knew what they were singing to be true. They are a testament to me that our children have been saved for this last dispensation on earth - they have stronger faith, stronger testimonies, and a determination to do what is right, especially when they are going up against so much evil in the world today.

I thought my generation was strong, and to be truthful, we are because of the kinds of things we had to face growing up, but I firmly believe that this generation coming to the earth right now have been saved for a very special purpose - and as always, the best has definitely been saved for last.

I have no doubts in my mind that these children will be ready and have the tools to go out into the world, especially when they are learning such incredible primary songs and hymns that they will take with them. I have the honor of being in their presence each Sunday and being witness to such sweet spirits.

I was touched several times during their program today, especially when they testified that "I Know That My Savior Loves Me - I Know He Lives." These children not only knew this to be true, but proceeded to sing their hearts out so others would be able to know this too.

I also think music has a special way of allowing our spirits to "hear" and feel things our Heavenly Father wants us to know. What better way to combine music with gospel principals for our children in these latter days. We learned some great songs when I was in primary, but we definitely weren't learning hymns, and some of those songs were 'I am Like a Star Shining Brightly' and 'Give Said the Little Stream.' You know these kids are special when the prophet wants our primary children to be learning songs like 'Come Follow Me.'

I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it - I love being in primary, but most of all, I love being the primary chorister and wish this calling would last for a very long time. I am so lucky to be a part of something so wonderful.

UEA = Are you sure the kids can't be educated too?

2010-10-17T17:17:00.007-06:00

So, the girls were home from school for UEA (I think it stands for Utah Education Association, or as others like to refer to it, Utahns Entering Anaheim)

We had the cousins over for a night and had a some fun at the Black Island Pumpkin Farm. Before heading out, I made them dinner with my infamous frozen ravioli and hash browns from a bag. They said I was "the best cook ever...and should go into the restaurant business." Aaron even informed me he will be dreaming about the ravioli because they were so good. I think I'll have to have them over more often for my cooking ego boost.

The pig train is a hit every time.

These two were inseparable. So cute :)

Grandpa explaining the rules before entering the corn maze so we didn't lose anyone.

Corn box anyone?

They had a ton of these fun slides.
...and some tire swings too (in the shape of horses - how cool is that?)

Even Megan got in on the action.

Last week was also Megan's first birthday. I blinked and she went from a cute cuddly baby into this even more adorable toddler that gets into everything. She adds such a sweet and bubbly personality to round out our family as our little caboose.

Going in for the kill (that is a homemade rainbow cupcake by the way)

Success!

Presents too? Life could not get any better :)

Top Reasons Why Disney is NOT the most Magical Place on Earth

2010-10-12T11:06:00.004-06:00

If you haven't read the post below this one, read it first, then move on to this one.

Reason #1: This is not a magical place of relaxation. We literally walked between 5 to 10 miles a day. Don't the scouts do a 50 miler for one of their badges? I think we all just earned one of those - and the blisters to prove it. We crashed into bed each night and had to drag ourselves up each morning for another round of walking torture.

Reason #2: Mickey's Not-S0-Scary Halloween Party is Not-So-Fun when the Mickey fans come in droves to accumulate their Disney candy. I mean, really, we had to wait in line for candy. Where is the fun in that?

Reason #3: Why do parents keep their kids up way past their nap times and bed times to enjoy their Disney Adventure? I know, I know, we were guilty of this too. I had to remind myself that I was not allowed to get mad at my three-year-old for throwing a tantrum, when she was just overtired and yours truly had inflicted it upon herself.

Reason #4: Not the best place to have a stomach bug. Luckily, the one day we decided to sleep in and relax at the house swimming in the pool before heading off to the Halloween Party was when Alicia and her cousin Jake decided to start throwing up. Thankfully, she was better by the time the party rolled around.

Reason #5: Trips are sometimes a bit emotional, especially since this trip was meant to be done with my dad at our sides. He was excitedly planning the trip along with the rest of us two years ago when he wasn't able to go to Disneyland with us. Just two days before we were to head out with grandma and grandpa, he contracted a very nasty and painful case of Shingles. This was supposed to be his Disney redemption trip.

No one told me about this part of losing someone close to you. All of the things you had planned to do with them in the future. When the events roll around, and they are not there with you, it is really difficult.

One of the days we were at Disney World, there was another family about the size of ours all wearing red shirts that said, "In memory of..." then it listed how they were related, i.e. grandpa, dad, etc. It certainly put things into perspective when I realized we weren't the only ones missing someone on our trip.

We really had a wonderful time though despite the crowds, massive amounts of walking, and other such pleasures. Guess we'll have to start planning for the next Disney trip. Not for at least 10 more years though in my book. (In John's book, 2 more years and then Disneyland - we'll see if I still remember the top reasons why Disney is not so magical, or if I've forgotten by then - kind of like having a baby, right?)

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's off to Disney We Go

2010-10-12T10:10:00.019-06:00

Come with me as I reminisce about our magical journey into the depths of Mickeydom. After two years of planning and saving, our week-long trip to Orlando with all but my brother from the Meldrum clan finally arrived. We rented a house literally five minutes away from Disney World and I think I will never be able to rent a hotel again after discovering how much I love having a private pool, hot tub, several bedrooms to go around, and a full kitchen so we could actually enjoy our breakfast, versus trying to eat cereal with warm milk around the hotel room's teeny tiny table with only 2 chairs.

We spent many hours in the pool. In fact, we decided to spend our first day in Orlando resting and getting adjusted to the time change by spending the entire day swimming (literally).

Cousin Jake with Alicia and Kimberly

I was afraid the girls' favorite part would be the swimming, but they quickly fell in love with Disney World, starting with our first day at Epcot.

The gang

The girls' favorite ride of all the parks was found here - Test Track where you ride in a car that makes you feel like you are at a race track.

Okay, I should clarify. This was Kimberly and Alicia's favorite ride, Not Natalie's. She definitely did not care for the speeding car and tight corners. For the most part though, she thoroughly enjoyed the bigger rides, like Splash Mountain...

(she's in the second row right behind my sister's head)

Megan was back with my mom's friend, Lynetta while we were on this ride. I must say, attending a Disney Park with Grandma Meldrum and her best friend of over 20 plus years came in really handy for us! On a side note, my mom's best friend ironically lost her husband to a massive heart attack literally two months before my mom experienced the same thing. Coincidence? I don't think so. I think they were meant to be friends so they could go through the experience together.

_________________________________

We really liked Animal Kingdom because it was a lot more relaxed than the other parks, except for the dash to Expedition Everest first thing in the morning. This new roller coaster goes backwards for part of the ride, which is a really weird sensation.

...here we are racing to the famed mountain...

Magic Kingdom was a little more fast paced with the added bonus of being more crowded than the other parks. We went with the flow and still enjoyed ourselves immensely.

For the most part, Megan did really well and took her naps in the stroller.

and when she wasn't napping, we went through a lot of park maps because she kept doing this to them...

and you know you've spent way too many hours at Disney World when your kids all do this on the ferry ride back to the parking lot...

It was for a good reason though.

We wanted to stay and watch this...

and the fireworks shows too of course.

I think my kids are still trying to catch up on their sleep (as are John and I). Or perhaps I'm still on Florida time because I'm zonked by 9 p.m.

Truly, it was a magical time, a trip with memories that will last a lifetime.
That being said, I'm Disneyed out for awhile.

Here are a few more pics to enjoy -

Lots of Two-on-One Time

2010-09-26T17:29:00.006-06:00

I spend a lot of quality time with these two monkeys while their two older sisters are at school. They make me laugh, and unfortunately, the three-year-old makes me crazy sometimes too. Good thing she is cute :)

I have found that the most successful playtime for the two of them is finding toys where there is enough of the same thing to go around - hence the cards and puzzle pieces (otherwise the 3-year-old takes away all the toys Megan is playing with - one of the reasons she drives me crazy!)

Megan loves to get entangled in the the kitchen chairs and play under the table.

Megan can go up - and down the stairs now. The fancy child gate has now been introduced to her, much to her chagrin.

No nipplage was exposed during this photo session. John will be pleased.

Gone Fishin'

2010-09-26T16:58:00.008-06:00

In an effort to stay sane with the kids while John is away on a business trip, we did some fishing with Grandpa Rimington on Friday afternoon after he got off work. Alicia and Natalie have never caught a fish before, so needless to say, they were thrilled.

Do I have to mention here that it was a fish hatchery, so the fish were merely 'snagged' by the hook, because there are SO many fish in the pond? We didn't even have to cover up the hook with cool looking, but smelly colored cheese. Instead, we dunked the hook in and scattered fish pellets into the water so the fish went crazy eating the food, thus snagging themselves :)

Kimberly's Fish

Natalie getting some extra help from Grandpa

She caught one!!

Did anyone ever mention how cool it is to hold a slimy fish?

Alicia's turn to catch one

Looks like Megan caught herself a cracker

Thanks Grandpa for the good time!

Overdue

2010-09-19T21:54:00.005-06:00

We were overdue for some 'alone' time - out of the house without someone under the age of 11 begging for our attention - the good or the bad kind. We had originally planned to go hiking on Friday evening as a whole family, that is until 3 p.m. hit.

After breaking up a wrestling match, reminding the girls for the millionth time to stop arguing, and telling Natalie yet again to stop screaming, I was at my wits' end and called the first babysitter I could think of. Success. She was available, so 30 seconds after John walked in the door, I sped away to retrieve the babysitter so we could enjoy the sounds of nothingness here...

See how relaxed I look? It was just what I needed as we hiked through the canyon and enjoyed the grandeur of leaves changing color. It was a full hour before we encountered another soul on the trail, which just so happened to be a scout troop and their leaders.

Four hours later and some Japanese food in our bellies (including my all-time favorite eel roll), we decided to come home again, this time to the kids sleeping soundly in their bed (well, mostly). That is until we were rudely awoken at 5 a.m. to the fire alarms shrieking at us and announcing "Fire-Fire."

No sign of fire, and no sign of any disturbance in any of our kids either. Nice for this morning with the false alarm (apparently a faulty sensor), but not so nice for future occurrences, especially if Kimberly is babysitting for us. We had a serious chat with the girls about the extreme importance of heeding the fire alarm. I'm a little uncertain if any of it registered in their subconscious brain, but I'm hoping the part about dying maybe tweaked a brain cell or two.