Remington Family Blog

This year was a first for us. Instead of traveling to either Sariah’s or my parents for Christmas we stayed home. There were both positives and negatives to this, but overall Sariah and I both think that it was very positive.

The main negative to this was that we weren’t able to partake of the family fun and be around all the normal action that takes place during this time of the year. I also noticed that we got lax on the timeline with Christmas. Normally we have to have things all planned out to travel. When we knew we were staying home we mentally figured we had more time to accomplish things like shopping, gift buying, gift wrapping, etc.

It was nice to not travel in the crappy weather and not need to haul Christmas for a family of five 150 miles and then back again. Today, I am back at work and didn’t need to take time off work because we weren’t traveling.

All in all we had a great holiday. Hope you all did too. Check the 2007 gallery for Christmas photos.

Halloween made this week very busy. Even though it was fun I am glad it is over. We started it off with a dinner with family that had menu items of, mummy pizza, night crawler rolls, spider cookies, and bubbling blood. Then we had a ward carnival where Kelsie dressed as an Asian Princess, Clarissa was a pumpkin, Brinlee as a princess, Sariah as Juliet and Reed as an old man without a mask. Halloween day I had a great time dressing up as an old man and going to work. It took a lot of people quite a while to figure out who I really was. Halloween night Kelsie was a caterpillar, and Clarissa a bat. I had to carry Clarissa to all the doors since she still has her cast of from her broken leg. Mom stayed home with a painful mouth, and princess Brinlee. The kids got a lot of candy that will take us a while to eat. We talked that maybe we will have a piñata in Dec with what candy is left over. As always, go check out the photos in the 2007 gallery.

Sariah has finally decided to bite the bullet and get braces. Obviously this is not something that anyone wants to go through, but in the long run it will be worth it. She went to the orthodontist and had an estimate. Tuesday she had the braces put on and on Wednesday she had to have 7 teeth removed. Picking her up from the oral surgery was definitely an October event. I go to pick her up and there she is sitting in a wheelchair, with a monitor hooked up to her and blood saturated gauze stuffed in her mouth as if she is playing ‘Fluffy Bunny.’ As I was driving her home, the gauze would drip blood down her neck. I drove with one hand and the steering wheel and the other dabbing blood of my wife. I can only image what other drivers were thinking when they saw my bloody wife sitting in the car. I wish I had taken a camera to capture the moment. She will have to have the braces on for 2 and a half years. I keep telling her that the first month is going to take forever, but after that the rest of the time will go by very quickly. I am proud of her even if she is in extreme pain right now.

Sariah has been talking about dying her hair black for a week or so. She has been a little worried about the change. She went and bought the dye and wondered if it was the ‘right color’. I finally folded and told her that when she dyed it I would do it too. She was excited. I dyed my hair black a few years ago, well before I even know my wife existed so I knew what I was getting myself into.

Sunday night after the kids were in bed we got started. It was great fun. You have to see the photos in the 2007 gallery to get the full laugh. On the package it said: “Not to be used to dye facial hair.” Immediately I thought I should dye my facial hair. After it was done all turned out quite well. Go and take a look at the photos. Hope they give you a good laugh. The one photo with the dye in my goatee reminds me of the Dominos Oreo pizza.

Major event happened two days ago for a parent, our child’s first bone break. Clarissa was running around on the hardwood floor and slipped and fell like she does each and every day. Except this time she fell just right to hurt her left leg. We watched it for a few hours to see if it was a sprain or a break and finally made an appointment to take her in after she continued to not want to even move for many hours. The x-rays showed an obvious break.

Currently, we have a 22 month old in a pretty purple cast that is trying to cope with an overnight change from running to being carried everywhere she goes. I think that she is living it up a little, and demanding to be carried excessively, but what else would I expect from a toddler.

Monday Aug 13th we got another foster baby. She is 3 weeks old and is obviously very cute. As usual we are not sure how long we are going to have her. We have now had her longer than we had Lizzy. We, uh I mean Sariah, is now used to the sleepless nights that are lost to feedings and diaper changes. Although even though Sariah does get up more at night, Reed also notices the increase of the emptying of the used diaper can. If you would like to see some photos they are posted in the 2007 photo gallery.

I had a weird rash looking spot on my arm that just appeared 3 years ago and has since been growing. It had grown to the size of a dime. I decided that it was time to go and get it looked at. I planned a visit to the doctor and he told me exactly what I figured he would, “Schedule another visit and well just cut it out!” I did just that. July 17th I went in and had it removed then got sewed back up with 15 or so stitches. He then said they would test it and let me know what they found out.

July 23rd they called me back and said that it was cancer. Basel Cell Carcinoma which is generally caused by to much sun exposure was the type that I had. It was strange to me because it was on my upper arm below my shoulder. I don’t normally go without a shirt on or never really did as a child either. I would have thought that if I got it, it would be on my face or lower arms not a part of my body that is normally covered by clothing.

When they called they also told me that the surgery didn’t get it all and I would have to come in for another operation to have another attempt of cutting me up to get it all. July 25, one day before we planned to go on a family Vacation hiking in Arches, was the planned date. They prompted me to come in as soon as possible, for two reasons. One, so they could cut more before the stitches heal and two to get it out before it spread more. For these reasons, I didn’t want to wait till after the trip.

The second time was a lot more painful, and practically made my left arm unusable for several days. It was awkward to sleep, since I normally sleep on my side. Again they cut a part of me away, a part that I will never get back and sent it off to a lab saying that they would again test it and let me know if they got it all.

Aug 1st I received a call from the doctors telling me that they did indeed get all the cancer this time. What a relief. I’m currently cancer free. They told me to wear long sleeved shirts, long pants and a 3” brimmed hat when I go out side. This will be a challenge for me. We’ll see if I can do it.

This weekend (Jul 13-15) was the 2nd annual, Sariah’s side, family camping trip. We went to Shingle Creek Campground just outside of Mirror Lake. If you don’t know where that is, it is East of Kamas, by Heber, Utah. The weather was great and it was the first time we got to go camping as a family this year.

Kelsie was very excited. This was Clarissa’s first time camping and she loved to get dirty. It seemed no matter how often we cleaned her up, 5 minutes later she was playing in the dirt again. At first we tried to keep her somewhat clean, then we just gave up and let her get as dirty as she wished. Grandma and Grandpa brought up two 4-wheelers and Sariah’s brother brought his up too. We had three 4-wheelers to share and ride among those that came.

We camped in our tent, slept the first night with the rain-fly off the tent and saw all the stars, ate some great Dutch oven cooking, and in general all had a great time. I can’t wait till next year to do it again.

Check the the 2007 gallery for photos.

We had a great patriotic holiday this July 4th. Our original plans were to get up early and go to the hot air balloon show and then go to the parade. But when the alarm went off at 6am on my day off I quickly decided it wasn’t worth it. We slept in and even missed the parade. Instead I did some yard work of pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, and de-rocking our garden area.

Sariah’s brother called us and said that he had some Baseball tickets for the SLC Bees and wanted to know if we would like to go. What is more American than Baseball? We accepted. We went to his house and had a barbeque with Apple Pie for desert. (another great American icon) Then we went to the base ball game and afterward they had a great patriotic fireworks show over the field. It was great!

The kids loved the fireworks and to make it better they played patriotic music during the show. It sure makes you proud to live in a county, even though we have so many problems, it is nothing like other countries. It makes me remember back to the days I lived in Vietnam, a Communist country and how careful I had to be there with what I did and what I said or I would get thrown in jail for something that is a freedom here in the USA.

This year we decided that we wanted to do the Utah Vacation. I am a Utah native, but it has been a long time since I have had the opportunity to see all the Utah sights. Sariah is a California gal and remembers coming and seeing a few Utah sights when she was little, but it was so long ago that she didn’t remember much.

Our 2007 destinations, in order, are:

• Kennecott Copper Mine
• Zions National Park
• Coral Pink Sand Dunes
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Arches National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• Timpanogos Cave National Monument

So far we have gone to the first four, and the rest are planned for July and August.

In June we went to Zions, Bryce and Coral Pink sand dunes and had a great time. We asked Sariah’s mom if she wanted to come. This way we had a baby sitter and were able to go do some real hiking in the National Parks without worrying about the kids. Sariah and I hiked almost 20 miles over the length of 6 days. Kelsie even hiked in one day 5.5 miles. We tell her that she hiked as many miles as she is old.

I will add another post sometime in August telling more about our whole vacation.

Check the ‘2007 Vacation’ gallery for photos.