Bumping along into January

Though I may be done with Target, there have been some editorial shifts at the newspaper, so I am working for four different editors now - one for education stories, another for the military stories, one for the city news they want me to cover in the north part of Davis County, and another editor for religion stories and other features stories they send my way. That translates into a lot of stories, which means I'm getting inundated.

I may look like this at the moment.
(I totally just found this picture as I was looking for the ones below. Looks like someone got a candid shot without me realizing it)

However, I am happy because as I burn the midnight oil right now, my awesome husband is sweeping the kitchen and wiping up the kitchen table. Sweetness!!

Anyway, having my stories increased may or may not be a good thing. Good, because the higher ups at the paper like me. Bad, because I've jumped from one boiling pot into the next. Thankfully, most of my work is from home, so I get to have these fun moments:

 Megan likes to sit on the heaters in the house every time she hears them turn on. 

Seriously funny. 

 Kim was out playing in the snow the other day without her coat while it was snowing. 

For fun. Hmm. I prefer to stay inside next to Megan on the heater vent. 

Okay, that was fun. Back to my story...

December Came and Went

Aahh, my blog...oh how I have missed you! My time at Target has come to an end, and can I just get an Hallelujah from the blog world! Glad I had the opportunity there, as it paid for Christmas and we could continue with our house projects, but I am ready to get back to my regular life at home with the family and back to solely writing for the newspaper instead of trying to juggle two jobs at the same time. Heaven!!

So, you are probably wondering what in the world we have been up to. 

Here's the recap.

On Christmas morning, we woke up to a white winter wonderland...finally. Our first really good snow of the season.

 

We spent the morning opening gifts, then the younger two girls headed out to hit the white stuff. 

I happened to look out the window and saw Megan doing this while it was snowing:

Christmas Day was so much fun spending time as a family and relaxing. 

Kim and Alicia, who are die-hard Dr. Who fans, were thrilled to get a Tardis Lego-like kit from the show - John worked his wonders and found it for them.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the gifts the girls make for each other. We started this a few years ago where they are allotted $5 in supplies and make something for the sister they are in charge of. They spend weeks planning and working on their item, and it's usually the first gift they want to open Christmas morning...LOVE it!!

This year Kim sewed some barbie clothes for Megan, Alicia wrote a Dr. Who story for Kim, Megan decorated the frame surrounding this picture for Natalie and wrote 'I love my sister.'



and Natalie (with Kim's help) sewed this lipstick body pillow for Alicia:

We attended the annual Rimington Family Christmas party where we enjoyed crafts, yummy food, and sharing of gifts. 

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this guy? 

...and of course I love that gal too. She is growing up too fast. 

The girls and I went to the Festival of Trees while John was on a business trip in Orlando.

While he was there, he went out to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the launching of the new Orion spacecraft. He was mere miles from the launch pad, but sadly, as they were preparing for launch, several things went wrong, so all of the spectators left disappointed. The launch happened the next day while John was on the plane back to Utah. 

However, John brought home some paper rockets the girls put together with him while I put up the Christmas tree lights. 

Kimberly and Alicia's parakeets added their chirps of approval during the project. 

I think I have completely failed to do a blog posting of their birds. 

They saved up their money and bought all of the supplies, got the cage put together, then purchased their birds. They have been a fun addition to the family. 

After Christmas, my Meldrum cousins and Uncle Bob stopped by for a visit. 

It was so much fun being with them again. 

In other news for the month, I was assigned a story covering an event down at the capital where the Governor was learning how to code with several students. 

I had no idea it was going to be held in the Gold Room and a gazillion other media hounds were covering the event too. 

Nonetheless, it was a really cool experience as I've never visited with the governor of Utah before, or any other state governor for that matter. I happened to snap this shot before.

Okay, back in November I helped out at the Thanksgiving Feast for Natalie's class:

Now that it is colder, the deer like to visit my neighbors' yard. I love watching them. 

You probably can't see them in the picture, but there are three deer back there. 

Back into December, I got to play this:

My friend and I have been playing Christmas piano/organ duets for the last eight years.

It is absolutely beautiful. I wish we had recorded it for your viewing pleasure, but alas, I didn't even think about that. 

On New Year's Eve we got together with our dear friends, the Oylers, who introduced us to a new game, Seven Wonders. We will definitely be picking up that game because it was so much fun. 

And lastly, we have discovered that Natalie is really, really flexible. 

She did not get that from my side of the family. 

I'm still alive...

I promise I am still alive and plan to return to blogging soon...I am working at Target temporarily for the holidays for some extra Christmas money so we can continue with our house projects, so on top of that and my stories for the Standard, in addition to still keeping the house afloat, I haven't been able to tend to my much beloved blog. I promise I will return soon!

A Chilly Football Game

We attended a USU Football game last Saturday, thanks to some cheap tickets from John's dad since his company was doing some special things at the game. Thanks Dad!

 

As you can see though, it was FREEZING!! We even had to wipe snow off our seats before we sat down. John says it was worth it because he loves watching our Aggies (they won by the way). The girls and I however had a very differing opinion.

I will not be attending any more November football games.

John can join Kevin by himself. 

We will go to any September/October games, just saying.

October is Moving Along

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted?!? Well, here it is, almost the end of October. We have been enjoying the warm fall days here. We went hiking up Farmington Canyon...

 

We made our annual trip out to Black Harvest Farms, though I have to say, everyone knows about it now, so unlike the times we began going 12 years ago when we had the place to ourselves, it is now jam-packed with people.

 

Alicia spent some time with Grandma Rimington sewing up her Halloween costume, which I still have no idea what it is...something called a derelict from Dr. Who?

 

I went with Megan on her preschool field trip to the Magic Treehouse Museum.

My last one, sniff, sniff.

 

Megan and I ran into this lovely piece of history the other day in good 'ole Layton...

 

I enjoyed Witches Night Out at Gardner Village

(and every other witch between here and Timbuktu):

Megan turned FIVE.

 

 

I just found an incredible sunset picture Kimberly took with the camera:

 

Alicia got to meet her new cousin, Oliver, for the first time.
 

and last, but certainly not least, I got to meet the Candy Bomber: 



 If you want to read the story, you can do so here:

My Story

 

20 Years - Go Hawks!

It was time for my 20-year high school reunion, and I wasn't sure whether or not to go with our finances currently going toward the house projects and current airline tickets were no steal-of-a-deal, but then I found out my brother was making arrangements to be sealed to his wife in the Portland Temple, so I begged him to do it the same weekend as my reunion, and wa-la...I was off to the northwest last weekend.

I flew into Portland first where my sister and I hiked around Portland.

It made me miss the northwest a wee bit.

The views were amazing, wouldn't you say?

We took the tram down into Portland from this mountaintop, then hopped onto the trolley, popped off to get some ice cream, then caught the train back to Christy's car.

 

It's called the 4T hike for well, just that - the four t's - trail, tram, trolley, train.

Someone got really creative with that name.

 

Friday evening we met up with Brice, Lizzie, mom, and one of Brice's best friends at a fancy restaurant, then we headed over to the temple.

 

After a few slight glitches (Brice and Lizzie forgot their letter from the First Presidency granting them permission to be sealed - thanks to a scanner, email, and a quick call to the First Presidency, they were all clear), Brice and Lizzie were sealed for time and all eternity.

 

Mike, Christy, Mom, Brice, Lizzie, Dana

 

It was a beautiful ceremony. Many tears were shed and we enjoyed knowing dad was in the room witnessing the sacred event as well.

 

On Saturday my mom and I drove up to Seattle, about a 4 1/2 hour drive north of Portland.

I met up with many of my dear friends from high school for lunch where we talked and laughed all afternoon. We finally left the restaurant shortly before dinner, only because we all had to get home and changed for the evening event.

 

 These were two of my dearest friends - Marin and Jill. We were a foursome - Shauna was unable to attend the reunion, but the four of us spent A LOT of fun time together back in the day.

 

This was another one of my dearest friends from high school - Lisa.

 

We have all stayed in touch over the years, and whenever my friends come to Salt Lake for business trips, which they have done a few times, we always get together and pick up right where we left off.

 

Saturday evening was the main event in downtown Seattle at an event center.

Thanks to my handy-dandy phone, I found it easily, but totally missed the parking garage, so I simply thought I would circle around the block to catch it. 

 

I completely forgot I was in Seattle where practically EVERY street in downtown is ONE WAY. Yes, that's right, I made it down a one-way street, going the wrong direction, thankfully skirting my way down and around the corner just before a herd of cars came down the street heading towards me.

Scary!

 

 So here I am with a bunch of us that used to play our own special version of Uno every morning before school. A bunch of us came over to school from early-morning seminary, which usually landed us there 25 minutes before school started. Therefore, Uno ensued, and trust me, we had some very creative rules, and we only thought it fitting to play again after 20 years.

 

It was a blast, to say the least. We were laughing so hard and having such a good time, we probably looked like the drunk ones, but there wasn't a whole lot of drinking going on at our table!

 Here's another shot of me visiting some of my other friends from high school.
and then of course, the photo booth...
 

 We couldn't all fit, so we had to split up.  

Fun Times, for sure. 

 

 It was truly a weekend I will cherish with such enjoyable memories with both family and friends.

I am thankful John was willing to hold down the fort and play Mr. Mom while I was away.

However, they claim to have had fun too, so I won't feel too bad.