Lots of Two-on-One Time

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'

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

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.

Back in Time

15 years ago was a year I will never forget. My sophomore year at Utah State University was spent with 5 of my bestest friends. Several of us became friends during my freshman year, so we all moved in together for my sophomore year. We had the time of our lives. We really had the best time together with Sunday dinners, outings out on the town, midnight hikes, study breaks walking down for Aggie ice-cream, and the list goes on and on. I even dragged them up to Seattle with me that year during our spring break (okay, real truth - they begged to come). Talk about good times.

We did a couple of reunions within the first five years of that fun year, but haven't done anything since. I've seen a few of them off and on over the years, but we decided it was due time to have a reunion again. With the exception of one, we were all able to get back together. You'll notice a blond gal that doesn't appear in the college pictures. She joined us my junior year, but of course by then I had googly eyes for John, so therefore, my camera did not get pulled out much.

2010
......................

15 Years Ago - 1995

Getting ready to head out on our Seattle road trip

One of many parties hosted at our apartment

One of the football games. Go Aggies!!

and the now infamous Cheerios picture. Most of you all know that I always have a bowl of Cheerios before going to bed (I am always starving before bed, and can never sleep with a starving stomach, therefore...Cheerios.) My roommates loved to tease me about this. One night I came out of my room and found these silly roommates all eating their own bowl of Cheerios. See - I told you they were the best roomies ever.

Oldest Child Syndrome - Exponentially

So, Kimberly has had the fortune/misfortune (you pick) of being born to two oldest children themselves, so she gets the oldest child syndrome squared version.

You see, she is in the 5th grade and has signed up for every possible thing you can sign up for:

Peace Builder Student Adviser
Student Government
Ballroom Dance
Library Media Assistant

Every day this week she has come home with a new form from each activity for me to sign. We'll see what she signs up for today.

Also, I am a bit dismayed to see my OCD may have rubbed off on her. Apparently on the first day of school, the principal announced to all the students they needed to have a "buddy" if they walked/biked home from school, which is about a 10 minute bike ride/20 minute walk home for the kids. Kimberly's best friend walks home, so she 'gets' to bike ride home with Alicia and her good friend. Being such a wonderful younger sister that she is, Alicia speeds off with her bike before Kimberly can get her bike lock put away.

The only reason why Kimberly is stressed? "Mom - I HAVE to have a buddy to ride home with - the principal said!" She is very concerned about this even though I have assured her on numerous occasions that she is perfectly fine and safe riding home with the other gazillion kids that are headed home on their route. There is just no convincing her.

We'll see what other OCD characteristics develop over time. I'm hoping she gets the incessantly tidy one, but looking at her disaster-of-a-room right now, I'm not so sure that is going to happen.

Balloon Time Fun

We made it out to Antelope Island to check out their Balloon Festival. It was fascinating being so close to several hot air balloons as they filled up. There is definitely a reason why they call it HOT air :)

Here is the buffalo Natalie was too scared to sit on...

Disney World should be interesting if she is that scared of a fake animal.

and here is a picture with 3 of my 4 girls being their typical funny selves wresting around playing with each other. They were truly playing like this when I had them turn and smile so I could snap a picture of one of their more candid moments.

I've been thinking..

I was thinking about my post yesterday and how much I love writing and remembering back to January of '09 when I got the news that the Salt Lake Tribune was cutting all of their freelancers. I was devastated as it had been the perfect job for four years.

As I look back over last year, I now realize what a blessing in disguise it was for me. I became pregnant shortly after learning about the Tribune's cuts, so I was quite sick for several months (not nearly like my sister-in-law Marian or my friend Heidi down the street, but sick none-the-less). Just as I was coming out of the first trimester sickness, I got the news of my dad's death. I still don't remember how I functioned last summer. I was simply on autopilot and would not have been capable of even typing up a story, let alone doing an interview with someone.

Fall was Megan's birth, hospital stay, and months of house arrest (or at least felt like it anyway) while we tried to keep our new little babe healthy. I was barely holding on to the edge as I tried to adjust to a new person into our household and keep everything else still functioning. Again, I never would have been able to write during those months.

Now that I have adapted to life with four kids and overcome the initial grief and shock of my dad's passing, I realized mid-summer that I was ready to get back to my passion of writing. Some people do crafts, some people sew, some people cook - I write. Last year when all of us were let go from the Tribune, I had been told the Standard-Examiner was not looking for any more correspondents, so I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to get on with them. However, I felt a gentle nudging that I needed to call them during the summer. I had planned to wait until September when my girls were in school and life settled down a little bit, but again, the nudging continued, so I called in July, and wouldn't you know it, a position had just opened up and they hadn't even started advertising yet.

I am now writing every spare minute I have and loving every minute of it. In fact, this job is even better than the Tribune because I can get my stories printed any day of the week, rather than just on Friday's when the Davis County section I wrote for printed. I now have yet another example of how I've seen the hand of God working in my life. I could never have foreseen last years events, but my Heavenly Father had and knew exactly what I needed. I am grateful to know that I am a child of God, who loves me, knows me, and shares His love freely with me and all of His children. May you know and feel of His love also.