Remington Family Blog

We have had a lot of things that have been going on in our house and we really want to share with those that check the website, but I we have had some recent problems with our computer. I have replaced the motherboard 3 times, the memory twice, the hard drive, and the power supply. I am getting pretty good at tearing this computer apart. Thank goodness it is still under warrantee for this fiasco. Last night I think I finally got all good parts in it. I’ll monitor it for the next few days and hopefully nothing crazy happens. We will get some new posts up in the next week and some photos too so check back when you have some time. If you are RSS savvy you could subscribe to the blog RSS and it will let you know when there are updates.

A lot of you know this, but for our family, December is a very busy month. This year we added one more event to this month. It starts on November 30 which is my birthday. Unfortunately, I feel 1 year older and my gray hairs are starting to show.

Next, we had a new baby boy, Kaleb, on the 4th. What a joyous time it is to see the miracle of new life. I took a week off from work and helped at home where I could. We are indeed grateful for all those that helped us in this time of our lives, with dinners, time, baby clothes, and everything else. You will be blessed and it was very much appreciated.

Kelsie’s birthday was on the 18th. She is getting so big. It is hard to believe that I have a daughter that old. Like I mentioned when I was talking about my birthday, I am starting to feel it, so I guess the truth is that I can believe it. Kelsie really wanted to go the The Mayan for her birthday party. The Mayan is a local restaurant that you watch divers jump off tall rock cliffs while you are eating. We told her that she could bring one friend. Even though the weather was very cold and icy, we still made this trip to Salt Lake just for her.

Christmas was great. We stayed home again this year. Roger and Sharlyn were able to come to Utah and stayed with us for a few days. It was great to see them, especially when we don’t get this opportunity very often. We had a great Christmas. What was even better was that the holiday fell on a Thursday so I got a 4 day weekend out of it.

Clarissa’s birthday on the 29th was the last birthday of the month. She was so cute singing: “Habby Burday to Me, Habby Burday to Curissa!” It is impossible to not smile during her solo. She wanted Mac & Cheese for dinner and cupcakes for desert. Unfortunately, I bet this easy request won’t stay the same forever, although it would be nice.

New years, was great. Again, Roger and Sharlyn were here, along with my Mom. I got blessed again with another 4 day weekend. Can’t complain about that now can I? We normally go and spend New Years with Aunts and Grandparents, but this year with the new baby and four kids we chose to stay home. With the kids in bed we watched the ball drop in times square on television and then went and caught a little shut eye our selves.

As you see we didn’t get much of anything else done in December but holidays and birthdays. I am glad that we can start a new year. I guess this also means that I am broke from all the gifts that I bought too.

I work on the top, 3rd level of an office building. A bird hit the office window at work. I know this happens all the time, but this one left a mark to prove it. It looks like it must have been either a Seagull or Pigeon. You can see his wings, feather and head. If you look close you can even see his eye mark. We went looking for a dead bird on the ground, but there was nothing. My guess is even if he is not dead; he is going to wake up with a nasty headache.

I finally got some time to share our news. On December 4th, we had a little baby boy. Many of you know that we chose to not find out the gender was of this baby. Having a boy was a big surprise for us, especially with the fact that we have all girls.

Everything went very well. Sariah had an induction time of about 9am on the 4th. The baby decided he didn’t want to come that way so he came on his own at 8:51am. We named him Kaleb Reed. This is a name that we have held on too for a while, but have not been able to use it. He weighed 6lb. 14oz. and was 18.5 inches long.

Photos have been added to the 2008 gallery under the category “12-04-08 Baby Kaleb” take a moment and check them out.

Brinlee’s court date was on July 9th. Things went well and we are now legal parents of Brinlee. We are very excited. Even though we want the best for Brinlee we are glad that family didn’t get involved to complicate things more. We are definitely blessed to have the opportunity to raise Brinlee in our home. She brings a lot of joy and laughter to our home.

We are planning on sealing her to the family in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint Provo Temple on July 22nd. This is a bigger day for us. We invited a lot of family over, and it is also Brinlee’s birthday. It will be a big event.

We wish to share some more news with you. I know we just said we are expecting a couple posts ago to announce that we are adopting Brinlee, but we need to do it again. WE’RE EXPECTING! Sariah is pregnant with number four. Guess when she is due? Yep, our favorite month, December. This will mean that we will have four birthdays, Christmas, and New Years all within 31 days. What an expensive month. Sheessh! I guess the benefit is that we will have all the seasonal clothes for the baby if it is a girl since we have been through this twice before.

Some ask if we know what gender it is. We have decided to wait and have it be a surprise. We did this with Clarissa and thought it was fun, and want to do it again. We’ll see if we get a boy, or if we are just going to add to the collection of sweet, cute girls.

The other night we were sleeping soundly in our beds and at 4:00 AM the phone rang. It woke both Sariah and me up. When I woke up I immediately smelt smoke and my half-awaken, brain gears started turning wondering what the smell could be coming from. Sariah answered the phone and she yells to me: “There is a fire in the back!” The call was from a neighbor calling to alert us. If you don’t know, our house sits next to the mountain. There are photos in the gallery if you would like to see. I jumped up and ran out onto the patio that is off our bedroom and I could see the glow of a fire two houses up in a large canal that runs behind our home. I ran back inside to get dressed, told Sariah to get dressed and be ready to evacuate if needed. Once I was dressed, I went back outside to look again and the fire hadn’t moved. I told Sariah I was going to go and check things out but from the looks of things there was no emergency because the fire wasn’t spreading.

I grabbed a shovel and was prepared to fight a fire. When I got to the fire things turned out a little different than I had planned. There was a pickup truck in the canal that had caught on fire. The fire was not spreading in the grass thankfully. A young man in his early twenties was lying on the ground in pain. We pulled the victim further away from the vehicle and called 911. Police, ambulance and fire trucks arrived. They put out the fire, and took the injured person to the hospital. By 5:00 AM they were all gone.

I was a little confused as to how the truck got there and why it was on fire. Trucks don’t normally catch on fire when they drive into a canal. Later, I got the full story. The young man decided he wanted to commit suicide. He drove up on the dirt road behind our home and started a fire in the front seat of his truck with barbeque briquettes and lighter fluid and was breathing the fumes and smoke in hoping to kill him self with carbon monoxide poisoning. Someway unknown to the victim and everyone else he drove off the road and into the canal which tossed the burning coals all over the cab. The truck caught on fire. The man at this point got scared for his life (which is humorous since he wanted to die in the first place) and crawled out of his truck to safety. This is when we arrived. The young man was treated with minor cuts, bruises and mouth/throat damage from breathing in the smoke.

I wish I took photos during the chaos but I did take some when the tow-truck came and got the truck and some more after they left. You can see them in the gallery.

It was definitely a reality check to make sure that we are prepared if there is fire that is a threat to our home and family.

We want to share some great news with you all. As the title states, WE ARE EXPECTING! We are very excited. You may or may not have noticed the changes Sariah has been going through. We have all been going through the emotional ups and downs. It looks as though we are going to follow our previous pattern since it is a GIRL. We get one more daughter and granddaughter for the family. Reed is going to have to wait and see if he gets another chance at a boy. The due date is not definite, as you all know, but we are hoping for July 22. I know, we kept this secret from you for a while.

We have been thinking of names recently and are current favorite is Brinlee Kaye Remington. Gotcha! Didn’t we? Even though Sariah is not pregnant this is still a very exciting time for us. We are going to adopt Brinlee. We have had her as a foster child since she was 3 weeks old, and is now almost 10 months. She definitely has become one the family. Kelsie and Clarissa treat her as if she is their little sister. I guess there are also times that they treat her as their own daughter bossing her around and telling her NO all day.

We invite all those that want to be part of the process. You are welcome to come to court if you wish. We will also be choosing a date when the finalization is closer to go to a temple and have her sealed to us. Thank you all for the prayers and support.

One of the only game shows that Sariah and I like to watch is Deal or No Deal. When we watch it Sariah, several times, mentioned how I should apply to go on this show. I looked it up a while ago and in order to do this I have to fill out this long form and also make a video of myself and the people that would come and support me on the show. I didn’t think it was worth the effort so I immediately dismissed the idea.

Saturday April 12, the game show decided to come to Utah and do auditions. Sariah coaxed me into doing this. The only sacrifice for this was my Saturday. Auditions were held at an RC Willey in Salt Lake. They started at 10am. Not being one of the crazies that camped over night I took Trax in and arrived at 10am. This was a mistake. I got at the back of the line, which I think was about 1.5 miles long, and there was a sign that said: “12 hours from this point.” DANG!! This means I will get my chance at 10pm. I decided to hang out and see how it works out. The line moved much faster then they projected, but it was still a long time. After going through the longest maze of people, and 6 hours later, after I got the first sun burn of the year, I had my chance. I was ready to be crazy and wild (since I knew that is what they were looking for). Unfortunately, I didn’t make it, but it was still fun. I made some new friends in the long line that I stood in all day. I guess I’ll have to stick to just watching in on TV.

Last night after we returned from the great Superbowl party in Vernal, the kids were put to bed and Sariah and I were relaxing in the living room watching television. All of the sudden about 9pm, BAM! We hear a thud up in the kid’s bedroom. We both thought Kelsie had fallen out of bed. We waited for a cry but nothing, so we let the idea go that they were hurt.

A few minutes later, we hear a faint cry from the room. I run up to see if all is well. When I am in the room I hear Kelsie with her face in the pillow crying. I ask what happened and she replies while cupping her face that she hit her head. I think that she has a bloody nose and I cup her nose and direct her to the bathroom. When the lights are turned on I notice, blood not running from her nose but her right eye. I grab a rag and Sariah then assists me in the clean up efforts. We find a nice gash above her eye bleeding like all head wounds do. After analysis we decide we better take her in and get it stitched up.

We call a neighbor and ask to watch the other sleeping children while we go to Emergency. We arrive at the hospital about 9:30pm and wait in the waiting room watching all the other circus clown accidents that come into the trauma center. At 1:45am it is now our turn. The doctor comes, stitches her up with 9 stitches and we are back home by 2am ready for bed to get up early the next day to start work and school.

She did a great job for being afraid. What a champ! Sariah on the other hand, learned that her role is not taking the kids to Emergency. She almost passed out when they were sticking needles in Kelsie’s face to deaden the area for stitches. I guess she has that right as a mother.

I coaxed Kelsie to allow me to take some photos. She really didn’t like it much. Check out the gallery if you want to see them.