Spring Smorgasbord

Happy Easter!

 

 

I just had to include the ones of Natalie putting up a fuss -

 

 

We love her anyway, despite the funny faces.

She turned 7 last week:

 



Megan keeps asking when she is going to get "bigger" like Natalie.

Until then, she will still be our baby at age 4: 

 

With the spring weather, we have all been outside more, soaking up the sun.

I usually go out to the back porch to eat my lunch, and it takes every fiber of my being to drag myself back into the house to work.

 

We put up a swing in the backyard, which the kids all enjoy: 

 

 

For Easter, the bunny also brought soccer stuff and Frisbees, especially now that we have a big yard to enjoy those things. The girls have been out learning some new soccer skills. No pictures, but I'm sure you get the idea :)

 

Happy Spring my friends!

Blood Moon

I inadvertently stayed up and saw the blood moon last night. I say inadvertently because I had not planned on staying up, but thanks to a nap I had taken earlier in the day to make up for having woken up at the unearthly hour of 5:30 a.m. to cover a story assignment, I was not tired at bedtime. John went to bed, but I kept puttering around the house and reading a book, and before I knew it, it was 12:45 a.m., so I hung outside and watched this lovely view...

 

I think that is Venus right next to the moon.

John woke up and bleary-eyed, went out to see it, and then I woke Kimberly and Alicia up. Kimberly was impressed, but Alicia wanted nothing to do with getting out of bed. Frankly, I don't blame her.

 

 

Spring Break

Spring Break has come and gone. We only got a few measly days this year.

 

 Right before spring break, Megan joined up with some other preschool kids for a field trip to Clark Planetarium. We had a blast (no pun intended.)

 



 

Kimberly competed in her final regional competition for her Science Olympiad team last weekend down at Westminster College, where she placed first in Metric Mastery.

 

 

We also celebrated John's mom's birthday over the weekend with an adult-only dinner (Kimberly was the one exception)

 

Here's the clan. It was so fun visiting with everyone without having to worry about our kidlets. Don't mind the picture with too much light. remember, I am still an amateur working with my camera. By the time I noticed I needed to change the settings a little more, everyone was back to eating, therefore, the above picture will have to suffice.

 

After dinner, we made our way over to the Hale Center Theater to enjoy the Les Miserables tickets mom and dad gave all of us adult kids for Christmas. It was the best play I have seen to date at that theater. Simply incredible.

 

Most everyone made it. We missed you Keith and Delores (who had to attend on a different night), and Marian and Randall (some insane distance away in Kentucky).

 

  Kimberly and Tammy

 The newly pregnant Heather and Justin. So excited!!

 Gail and Mike, who sold their house in one day and will be off to Arizona soon. Traitors. Okay, maybe that is too harsh...we will miss you!!

 ...and the ones who initiated the fun evening, Mom and Dad

 The newly engaged Tammy and Conley

Kevin...how did I completely miss getting a picture of you?
Wait...I may have something...here we go -


 

On Monday, we enjoyed the local swimming pad, and on Tuesday, the girls enjoyed this:

 

 

Now it is back to the grind. I am currently in the process of painting the hallway from the front entryway (remember the one we "created" to get the piano into the office/den). 

Weekend Happenings

It was such beautiful weather this weekend, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Every time the girls dropped their modes of transportation to go check out some kitty cats, John would swoop in.

 

 

 Hmm. I think he may be just a tad too big for Megan's bike.

 

 

Here John is helping her out because she feared going down the hill on her bike (last time she went down on a hill, she had a major biff)

 

Also this weekend, we spent some time working out in the yard, and kept spotting this woodpecker in the light pole across the street from our house.

 

 

Some friends invited us to go bowling with them. John came in first, and I came in second to last.

You can see that bowling is not one of my fortes, but we had a fun time nonetheless.

 

 

While we waited for a bowling alley to open up, the guys watched the sports scores, while us ladies visited.

We enjoyed having my niece, Emma, over for the weekend.

We are very sad to see them move to Phoenix soon.

 

 

Here's the difference between pictures when you change up the light settings.

 

They made a fort in the backyard amongst the trees, and then made boats in the water feature. Can I just say how much I LOVE the warm weather? Having the kids enjoy playing outside has been just lovely after being trapped inside all winter long. 

 



Fastest Mom on Ice

Look who I got to meet today:

 

Olympic Silver Medalist Noelle Pikus-Pace for a story I did at Northridge High School in Layton.

 

I am laughing in the above picture because I kept stumbling over the word "medalist" for the video.

Oh yah, the photographer begged me to be on camera - apparently our editors prefer us there. Did they forget I didn't go into broadcast journalism?

I told her I hadn't done my hair yet, hence the hat (it was an early-morning story, and I am no early-bird), and a face devoid of makeup.

She finally talked me into it, saying I looked just lovely.

She was kind enough to send me some of these screen shots from her video feed.

 

 

Probably the ONLY time I will ever meet an Olympian.

She was so genuine and friendly, such an inspiration.

 

If you want to check out the story, here it is:

 

http://www.standard.net/stories/2014/03/10/olympics-fastest-mom-pays-visit-northridge-high

 

 

What Have We Been Up To?

We celebrated Kimberly's birthday last week.

 

That would be a grand total of 14 candles her cake. 

She got some new scarves and some Bare Minerals foundation, which if you've ever tried it, is worth every penny...don't even bother with the fakie stuff. Oh, and she gets to start wearing mascara now. ...and as you've probably noticed, has a Facebook account.

 

The basement is also coming along.

 

We got the new gas fireplace put in, though you can't see how pretty it is in the picture because of its cover to avoid getting drywall dust in it. That nice spot above the fireplace will be where our TV will go. 

 

 As you can clearly see, the dry wall is almost completely up.

On the far side will be the play room, and our ping pong table folded up in a corner.

 

This is the view from the far back looking toward the TV area. On the far right is the hallway that leads to the back bedrooms, laundry area, storage, and the stairway.

 

We bit the bullet and hired someone to finish the drywall for us, because if you can recall from our experience with the last basement project, mudding and sanding is NOT, and I do repeat, NOT fun. At all. Thus, having someone do it for us.

 

Best money ever spent. Hands down.

 

In other news, Alicia had her ballroom competition, where she received second place. Woo-hoo!

 

 

Kimberly also competed in a Science Olympiad Regional competition, where she received second place for her work in the solar system, though I can't seem to locate the picture I took of her...I will keep looking, or retake another one.

Job Promotion?

I just discovered today that I am now writing for two newspapers.

Unbeknownst to me until I checked out one of my recent stories, I now have two different bylines.

 

Dana Rimington, Standard Examiner correspondent, and now,

Drum Roll Please...

Dana Rimington, Hilltop Times correspondent

see...

http://www.hilltoptimes.com/content/blasters-lightsabers-imperial-march

 

I took pictures of the event, but for some reason they aren't showing up on the website yet.

Anyway, Hill Air Force Base has their own newspaper that originally had their own editor and correspondents. I just learned that they are now under the Standard-Examiner umbrella, meaning that my editor is now editor of the Hilltop Times, and therefore, recruits us correspondents to cover the stories.

 

I just so happen to be the lucky one who keeps getting calls for these stories (I have another one this weekend) because I have a spouse pass since John works on base, therefore, the high-up military folks on base don't have to go through the whole rigmarole of getting me sponsored to get on base since I've already been thoroughly background-checked and every other process they have you go through to get one of those spouse passes.

 

Oh, and I almost forgot, I am now a sports correspondent as well.

See...

http://www.standard.net/stories/2014/02/26/running-strong-weber-state-track-star-reaching-significant-goals

I know all of you who know me well are laughing at this development as I know so Very, Very little about sports, but that is the glory of being a journalist. You get to ask A LOT of questions for your story under the guise of making sure your readers understand what you are talking about.