One With Nature

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 --

-- 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

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

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

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

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.