Surviving

I'm still here...barely.

Dealing with four kids all day while they get cabin fever is proving to be enough to make any sane woman question her sanity. Don't tell anyone, but I'm letting them have free rain over the TV, computer, and Wii just so I can survive this school break.

We had a lovely Christmas though and enjoyed our usual traditions.

Making Cookies for Santa. With two decorated cookies from
each girl, Santa rolled out of our house this year!

John and I got a string this year leading to a ping pong table down in our basement. So far it's been a hit with the kids and I am remembering how much I love ping pong. I have many fond memories playing with my family growing up - especially my dad when we originally used a table made out of plywood and saw horses.

Orion is a Ute!

The biggest question haunting me lately was whether or not Orion (my recently returned Kestrel) was a Ute or a Cougar. Now I know; he's a Ute! Now to convince him to become an Aggie! :)

During Orion's life on the lam, a kind photography couple from Murray who frequently visits the Farmington Bay Wildlife Refuge kept tabs on him. I would receive several updates each week. To repay their kindness, I brought Orion to work yesterday and stopped by their house with him. It was a good chat and they were quite excited to see him up close.

While at work, I placed the sports section of the SL Trib under his perch to keep things clean in the office. I didn't notice at the time that the left half of the front page was an article discussing the U's chances at the Poinsettia Bowl, and the right half was an article discussing the Y's chances at the Las Vegas Bowl. Near the end of the day, one of the guys in the office pointed out that Orion had "left his mark" repeatedly on the article discussing BYU's chances at the Las Vegas Bowl. It got quite the rise from my Cougar manager.

Christmas Fun

We have been having fun getting ready for Christmas around here, which has meant some fun old and new traditions.

Gingerbread House Making - a fun tradition we have been doing for many years now.

A New Tradition - the Christmas Village in Ogden with the Rimingtons. Dozens of small houses are decorated for Christmas. You peer through the windows and enjoy all of the sights and lights. We were there for an hour and didn't get to see everything! This is definitely a tradition I would like to continue in years to come.

He's back!

It has taken 3 months, but Orion is back home now!

Back in mid-September, we had some friends over one weekend evening. Orion had just finished molting his feathers and I was going to start training again the following Monday. I got Orion out for some up-and-close time with the kids from both families. Kimberly adores Orion and had been desperate to hold him. (Kim has talked repeatedly of becoming a falconer when she turns 14.) She knows enough about falconry that I let her hold him.

How did he escape? Good question...we were outside the whole time. Since there is little interaction during "the molt," most falconry birds revert to near wild. As Kim gave Orion back to me to put in the mews, there was a brief moment where neither Kim nor I had a good hold on him, and he bolted for the nearest tree. We weren't paying close enough attention to what we were doing!

A couple weeks later, I found Orion again...one block south of where I originally trapped him in Farmington! This started a two-and-a-half month process of trying to recapture Orion. Most of the small farm owners in the area were very generous letting me roam their pastures to set my traps. The biggest problem was the abundance of prey; my two mice in the trap weren't appealing enough. It was the recent storms that made prey scarce and my two mice more appealing.

Two other falconers were helping the day I recaptured him. He had garnered some limited celebrity that caught the DWR's attention. We actually caught him three times in a 90 minute period. Obviously, he escaped the traps twice. The third time we caught him, we actually caught the falconry jesses; he nearly escaped a third time.

I haven't heard Kim squeal in excitement that loud in a long time! It's great to have him back. He's already flying on call and we should be ready to hunt together shortly.

Pass the Pigs Feet Please

We went to a party on Friday night with some friends. Best part - adults only (other than our little babe, but she just sat in our arms the whole time good as gold. Why can't my other kids do that?)

The highlight of the evening was when someone opened the pig's feet we brought for the white elephant game. While most everyone was gasping at the sight, my friend who is part Hispanic and grew up in L.A. replied, "They are actually quite good. Here, let me try one!" She ate it like a chicken drumstick, even licking her fingers! Several other party goers attempted to eat one, but they all spit their bite out. Pigs feet are nothing compared to the other things true Mexicans enjoy eating (cow's tongue, stomach...etc.) I guess it's not much different than Japanese eating Sushi. All in how you look at it. I have a pretty weak stomach, but when John introduced me to sushi, I fell in love with the eel roll (cooked of course).

You go girl - especially since no one else could do it!!

Let There Be Lights.

Look closely - Can you find what's wrong with this picture?

No, the tree is not crooked, but can you tell where the old set of lights begin and the new LED lights begin? Probably not hard to figure out, huh.

Replacing old lights with led lights is not cheap, so we decided to do half at a time. The other half will be purchased next year, at which time our tree will then match.

Story of the Nativities

I pulled out some of my Christmas decorations this weekend, and as always, my favorite part is setting up the nativities. I have collected a few over the years and thought I would share them with you.

This is my very first nativity (and first Christmas decoration for that matter). John's mom gave it to us during our first year of marriage to help start our holiday collection. After 12 years of marriage, our decorations have grown, but I will always treasure this first one we received.

My sweet sister, Christy gave me this one after her trip to BYU-Jerusalem. It came with an Israeli card for my birthday (which I still have and read every time I pull out the nativity). She wrapped all of the figurines with their newspaper as well. I thought it was so cool that I have kept them wrapped in the same newspaper all of these years.

Our dear friends gave this nativity to us one year, only it didn't come in one piece. Ten days before Christmas, a small shepherd appeared on our doorstep with no note attached. I remember thinking it was a bit unusual, as I had no idea it was part of a set. The next night, a wise man appeared. Each night after that a piece of the nativity appeared on our doorstep until the last night when baby Jesus arrived with our friends finally in tow.

This is the last nativity added to my collection a couple of years ago when I made this nativity under the tutelage of my sister-in-law, Marian. She created one for our parents, and I fell in love with it, so had to make one for myself. The box took a slight spill yesterday as I was pulling it out, so John lovingly epoxied up the cracks since I don't want to make another one! Too many hot glue gun burns the first time around.

I love the holiday season and am looking forward to this Friday when we'll go pick up our tree. I hope you are all having a joyous season as well and enjoy reflecting on our Savior's birth.

Making Dinner and Fun in the Same Sentence?

Once again, the dreaded Sunday night chore was upon me yesterday...cooking dinner.

What is supposed to be a grand, lavish meal is in my fact my least-favorite meal to cook each week. I take Sunday rest to heart and truly don't feel up to snuff when it comes to lifting my fingers to make a sabbath feast. My ultimate favorite meal to make on Sunday is pancakes. Sigh...a meal made in heaven with minimal prep, eating, and clean-up.

Yesterday I had put off the inevitable as long as possible while the girls contently played Star Wars Monopoly with John and I made some phone calls to family. I found myself scouring through my cook book at 6:10 p.m. (I know, that is what time we should have been eating, not starting the meal process) trying to find something quick and easy when I came across an idea my sister, Marian shared with me many months ago.

Omelets in a Bag! I cut up ham, broccoli, cheese, and tomatoes and had the girls do their own meal prep (this I like). We opened up the Ziplock freezer bags, added 2 eggs to each bag and mooshed the eggs. Then we put the bag into a large cup so we could add our toppings without the bag tipping over, then squeezed out as much of the air as possible, sealed the bag and popped them into a large pot of boiling water. We cooked them for about 15 minutes, then slid the omelets out onto a plate and wa-la! I think I found a new favorite Sunday meal. Now to start the process all over again and figure out what we're making for dinner tonight.

Baby Kangaroo

A friend of mine through scouting has his own magic show. One of the programs he runs is for schools to promote reading. Through a series of tricks, he turns a book about Australia into a live Kangaroo. Meet Roxie, a very friendly 6-month old Red Kangaroo. Because one cannot own a Kangaroo, she is being leased to my friend from a local breeder. She gets a lot of attention wherever she goes.

Kimberly and Alicia got a pleasant surprise when they came with me to drop of some scouting things.

Preserving

I opened up the freezer and discovered this...


a bowlful of snow.

I guess the girls thought they wouldn't be seeing any more snow for awhile. Unfortunately...it has only just begun.

All Things Related to the Bathroom

Two very exciting things have happened in our bathrooms this last week...er, that sentence sounds a bit strange on its own.

Let me fill you in...

John has finished the tile on the floor in our bathroom and the floor in the shower. It looks gorgeous, not to mention the fact that we can see an end to the construction! I am looking forward to the day I don't have to share a bathroom with 4 other girls. It's an especially tight squeeze on Sunday mornings when we are all trying to shower, do our hair, etc.



I also don't like sharing the throne with a newly potty trained two-year-old...the other exciting news at our house. I keep forgetting to wipe the toilet seat off before sitting, so I usually get an unpleasant surprise after I get seated. Too many unpleasant details? Hey, at least I'm not posting any pictures of Natalie sitting on her cute froggie potty seat (trust me, I did consider it for about 2 seconds).

I know all of the potty training books tell you NOT to potty train when you have a new baby in the house, and trust me...I really tried to post pone the process, but when your two-year-old is sitting on the potty doing her deed several times during the day, several days in a row...it was time.

On a completely unrelated bathroom note,

here are some random pictures from the last week...

My mom came down to help me with the new baby.
It was so nice to have her help because I no longer feel like I'm drowning. It also helps that Megan is learning how to sleep a little better at night (meaning that she is still eating every couple of hours, but at least she goes back to sleep quickly afterwords).

While mom was here, we went to the zoo. It was glorious weather.

...and then the not so glorious weather lent itself to this picture...

Letter to a Long-Lost Friend

Dear Sleep,

Oh, how I've missed you. I am so sorry we haven't been together as much as we used to be. Know that I think of you incessantly and am looking forward to our soonest rendezvous. Please be patient with me. No, I am not seeing anyone else, but I have been tending to another one's sleep training, which is unfortunately riddled with feeding sessions every 2 to 3 hours - definitely not conducive to a deep slumber for you and I. Hopefully I will be able to join you before too long...

Your non-slumbering friend,
Dana

Halloween Fun

Realistic enough for you?

It's tradition at our house each Halloween to make fingers. In fact, many of you have adopted the tradition in your homes as well. It all started with John's Grandma Rimington. I still remember how excited she was to show off her homemade fingers to everyone. Kimberly loves talking about traditions and the different things we do as a family that are considered a "tradition." I believe that traditions are often the glue that help us feel tighter knit as a family.

fyi - Kimberly is Princess Amadala from Star Wars ...yes taking after John's
love of Star Wars. She even checks out the Star Wars fiction books at the library!!
Alicia is Snow White courtesy of my mom's awesome sewing.

Of course Halloween includes the usual trick-or-treating to the neighbors houses. John and I actually take turns each year taking the girls out since going around the neighborhood is far more preferable to staying home and making the trek to the front door every couple of minutes. This year was my turn heading out - woohoo! We started out as a big group with all the neighbor friends, but all too soon, Alicia and her friend were lost. It took about five scary minutes to locate her. Apparently she had turned left down the street when the rest of the group turned right. Scary!!

And of course, the usual pumpkin carving fest...

Phew - I didn't have to clean out Natalie's pumpkin.

Carving pumpkins wasn't very entertaining for the littlest one.

"Sometimes these things just happen."

Having a new baby in ones house is like having a little piece of heaven in your home. Nothing compares to having a new little being around who has just come from her heavenly home. We have all enjoyed these new moments with Megan over the last couple of weeks.

As I mentioned in the previous post, we took all extra cautions we could think of in keeping our new little one healthy. After a week, we were all still healthy despite a devastating sweep of the flu through our neighborhood. We felt very lucky we had somehow missed its path of illness. The only issue we were currently dealing with was Megan's jaundice and high bilirubin counts. After three days of enduring the light bed, Megan's bili count was not coming down very quickly, so her pediatrician advised me to pump for 24 hours and feed her formula to see if we could bring the count down quicker.

We started feeding her formula, but within the next 12 hours, she stopped eating and had not produced any wet diapers. I quickly got her into the doctors office and was devastated to hear the doctor ask me if Megan had been around anyone sick as she had some lesions on the back of her throat. It was obvious to the doctor that Megan was not eating because she was currently fighting an infection of some sort. I was completely distraught as we had done everything possible to keep Megan protected from illness.

Megan was immediately placed in the NICU at the hospital where she began a a series of icky tests and treated for dehydration. I could not stay to watch the tests as the first test - a spinal tap - was done. I spent the next 2 hours in the waiting room thinking about how we had come to this situation despite all of our best efforts.

As I discussed my concerns with the doctor later, she informed me that sometimes these things just happen no matter how much prevention we do. Since Megan has completely recovered and has since come home from the hospital - thanks to all of the prayers and thoughts sent our way from many of you - I have thought of the doctor's words many times as we continue our efforts to keep our family healthy. It occurred to me that sometimes we do everything we can to protect our children from harm or pain. However, no matter how much we do, sometimes our kids will have to go through hard things and we as parents have to sit back and watch. I can see now why Heavenly Father had to go to the far corners of the heavens rather than watch his Son suffer in the Garden of Gethsemene just as I could not watch my week old daughter endure some very painful tests.

I have learned in just a few short weeks that our kids are most precious and sometimes things just happen no matter what we do to try and prevent it. Thankfully we have a loving Heavenly Father who is there to help us when we need support as we watch our kids endure something painful.

Megan Beth Rimington

Megan Beth Rimington

Born: October 13, 2009
6 lbs. 3 oz. - 19 inches

She's Here!! She's Here!! After a week and a half of on-off contractions making life very unpleasant, I finally went into real labor on Tuesday morning and delivered this darling girl on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Megan arrived 2 1/2 weeks early, so she was rather smallish. She has since lost weight like all newborns do and was 5 lbs 13 oz. at the last weigh-in. She is so tiny!!

We are both home, albeit hermits now after being given very strict instructions by her pediatrician and the other hospital staff that we are not to take her out for at least the first month or two - possibly longer with the swine flu quickly turning pandemic in our area. Our older girls will get to wash their hands and change their clothes the instant they get home (yay, more laundry for me) and if they have been exposed to anyone with the swine flu at school - it's a shower for them too. Lucky girls.

I was amazed at how quickly the swine flu has became such a big deal here just in the last week. The IHC hospitals in the state of Utah have implemented strict policies now - No visitors allowed under the age of 14 - so no, the girls haven't seen their new baby sister yet! It became more serious yesterday when they started allowing only 2 visitors total per patient - period. They get a wristband that allows them in, and only if they pass the strict screening procedures at the front door where everyone is checked for a fever and questioned extensively to see if they have any flu like symptoms or have been exposed recently. I was told by the nurse today that hospitals are starting to turn people away because they are quickly filling with serious cases of the swine flu. Currently Weber County has about 15 percent of the population with the swine flu, according to their numbers. If it reaches 30 percent, it will be considered pandemic.

Needless to say, I could hardly sleep last night worrying about my new little one and the health challenges we face in the coming weeks trying to stay healthy. As my nurse put it this morning, usually winter babies run the risk of getting RSV, which is serious, but very treatable. This year, not only do we face that risk, but now with the swine flu, babies have very serious complications - the number one risk is that they stop breathing. I am trying to stay calm and not panic too much, but it is going to be a very interesting couple of months as John and I take turns staying home with the baby. I haven't even begun to think of all the logistics it will entail. We have canceled all plans to attend any parties, and only one of us will be attending Alicia's 2nd grade program in a few weeks, I will not be able to attend their Halloween parade at school...and the list goes on.

Hopefully all will go well and we will make it through unscathed. At least we get to enjoy this sweet bundle of joy and experience a little piece of heaven in our home.

By Request

by John

So, the bathroom is finally ready for tile. My sister and I were chatting last week, and she was interested in the orange liner you could see here. For those of you not interested in some boring remodeling stuff, you can skip to the end. For the one or two of you left, the liner is Schluter Systems Kerdi. This stuff is the best!

To do a tiled shower traditionally requires 2 - 3 inches of concrete poured at the right slope to create the shower pan. You have to make your best guess at the drain height to match the tile height. Us DIYers don't have the experience to guess right. It's a lot of work, it's not completely water tight, and usually only lasts 15 years.

The Kerdi shower system comes with a pre-shaped styrofoam shower pan that is 1/4 - 1 inch. After that, you line the entire shower (walls and floor) with the orange liner that makes the shower completely water tight, and its guaranteed to last 25 years. It comes with an adjustable drain that is the exact size of 3" tile; no cutting for the drain. I learned from the vendor that you can line a cardboard box with Kerdi, fill it with water, and the cardboard doesn't get wet! Unless you splash water everywhere. ;) Check out John Bridge's website for more details on installing Kerdi.

I learned a few things installing Kerdi that you may want to remember:
1) The pre-shaped corners in the shower kit are inside the drain box. I didn't check and had to do the corners the hard way. The inside corners for the bottom of the shower are not critical; you can overlap the Kerdi band on itself just as easy as the pre-shaped corner. However, outside corners for windows or doorways are MUCH easier with the corners. I found my corners near the end and wished I had used them earlier. You only get two outside corners, so buy as many extras as you need for your doorways and windows.
2) Use only unmodified Thinset. Fortified Thinset is great stuff everywhere but the shower. The vendor I worked with stated that the silica in the fortified Thinset is more vulnerable to mold/mildew. Your shower will last longer with unmodified Thinset.
3) Mix the Thinset a bit thin; think toothpaste. Usually Thinset is mixed to peanut butter consistency, but you want it a bit thinner so you have time to spread it on the wall and squish the Kerdi into the Thinset
4) Buy a J-roller. It took three times as long to squish the one piece I tried with a 12" trowel as it took with the roller. These rollers are used for laminate, but they work great for the Kerdi.
5) The Kerdi system is a bit spendy. The kit comes with enough for a standard 48 x 48 inch shower. Any more, like our tub, and you will need to buy some extra.
6) Consider using the Kerdi all the way through the doorway into your shower. This gives you a "floor mat" under you tile outside the shower that is water tight and will prevent water damage.

I think that's it! Good luck with your shower remodels.

Pumpkin Day

We went to the pumpkin farm on Saturday to get our pumpkins - hay ride included.

What a fun and gloriously sunny day for the activity.
And no, the hay ride did not kick off baby contraction activity.

Who's that hot, sexy guy carrying Kimberly's pumpkin you ask?
Yup, all mine :)