Fireworks

Last night we took the kids to see fireworks for the first time in about ten years. My older children have seen big fireworks displays--a long time ago, but the younger ones never have. We didn't take our camera because I think photos of fireworks are kind of dumb--they just don't convey what you're seeing (case in point: see above). And we figured wouldn't be able take good pictures of the family because it would be too dark. But I wish we could have gotten pictures of the kids--especially the little ones. Ryan's wide-eyed, jaw-dropped delight; Rachel calmly lying on her back and sucking her thumb while she enjoyed the show; Jessica huddled in my lap with her hands over her ears, even trembling a little sometimes, but watching the display nevertheless. It was a lot of fun--my kids are so darn cute!

Waterlogue

This week we've been having some fun with the kitchen pipes. The fittings do not fit, and occasionally they come apart and whatever is in the sink ends up on the floor. The upside to this is that the kitchen cabinet and the floor in front of the sink is really clean. I did a fabulous fix-up job by putting an upside-down bucket under the elbow to hold the pipe in place. I even told all the kids to be careful not to knock that bucket out of place. That's good, isn't it?

I used to tell people that the Norths (meaning Bruce, me and our family) shouldn't be allowed to have running water in our home. Really, I don't believe that (or want it!)--I actually like having water piped into my house and being able to use it with a twist of the wrist. I like it a lot! But we have had our share of water problems.

When we bought our house in 2000 the grass was dead. OK, it was only mostly dead. Bruce's mom kindly came out and put fertilizer and weed killer over our yard; she said this would revive the lawn if we just watered it--Hooray! So we did. We hooked up a hose and ran the water on our "lawn" for about an hour while we worked on other moving-in stuff. And then I went downstairs to discover that the floor was an inch deep in water! Aaaaaah!! We learned that we had a burst pipe on that side of the house.

Fast-forward to summer 2001: This summer my kids had a penchant for taking their cups of water into any and every room in the house, and they invariably spilled water all over the world. So when I went into Lindsey's bedroom and found the floor in the doorway was drenched I was really not surprised, but I was really irritable. I soaked up the water with a towel, chewed the kids out and went on my way. They did it again! And not just a little water, but a LOT of water. I soaked it up again and went about my business. When this had happened about four times in a day I was very angry with my children. Even so, that very evening they'd done it again! I know, you're thinking I just hadn't gotten it all dried up from earlier in the day; but no, it was a LOT of water. Well after I put yet another towel on Lindsey's floor I went into my room and, glancing up, I noticed that my ceiling was sagging and there was a little BB hole in the corner of it. I ran and got a pan to put under it just as it burst and water began to pour out. Yes, it was the swamp cooler leaking. (Now you're thinking that I'm kind of dense. Well, it was a stressful day--give me a break!) We ended up having to replace a 4 x 8-foot piece of our ceiling.

Summer 2002: The neighbors left their hose on over night, and since we live downhill it leaked into our basement. The window well looked like a fish tank. (Maybe we should have run with that and put fish in it.)

Summer 2003: We decided to have our livingroom carpet cleaned. The man hooked his hose to the faucet with the burst pipe. (Yeah, we should have fixed it, but if you could have seen what an awkward place it was in, you'd excuse us for not having done it.) At least the carpet guy was there, and he very kindly took the blame for it and cleaned the basement carpet too.

Summer 2004: Hey! I think we were dry this year!

Summer 2005: My dryer broke, so I went to Melanie's house to do a lot of laundry. As we got ready to go spend the day with Melanie I reminded myself about five times to turn off the water in the garden. But by the time I'd gathered all the kids and all the laundry I forgot. About ten hours later we came home tired and grumpy. I was bathing the little girls when Lindsey came up and told me there was water on the laundry room floor. Well, our bathroom floor sometimes leaks, so I didn't think much about it; I just told her to throw a towel on it. After the baths were done I went down to put the kids to bed. We had about two inches of standing water in the basement! I sent someone out to turn off the water in the garden and we set about getting things at least cleaned up enough to get everyone to bed. I was not a happy camper, but the kids loved camping all over the livingroom floor! We ended up throwing out all the basement carpet, and since I'd always hated the really badly finished walls in the kids' bedroom, I tore out all the drywall too (it was soaked about two feet up, so it seemed like the thing to do). We got the room fixed up, and I would have just painted the floor--seriously, I would have, it seemed like the safer way to go--but my mom donated some nice carpet and padding to our cause. (By the way, when the walls and ceiling were torn out, we fixed the burst pipe too.)

Since that last fiasco, we've remained clean and dry. Whew! Until yesterday. This time it was the swamp cooler again. This spring, when Bruce climbed up in the attic to re-connect the water pipe he'd taken a 5-gallon bucket to catch any leaks that might happen while he was working. He left the bucket in the attic when he was done; that's what saved us this time. Friday afternoon I went in my bedroom and saw a little, slow drip coming from the ceiling [see photo above]. I immediately turned off the swamp cooler and stuck a pan under the hole (at that moment, it was just a little hole). Bruce got home about 20 minutes later and hurried up into the attic. The bucket had filled up and was starting to overflow; he figured that it probably would have crashed down through the ceiling if I hadn't noticed it when I did. One danger averted!

Well, I guess all of this is just part of the joys of home-ownership. We survive it pretty well, although it can be a little irritating. But hey! At least we have running water!

Here she is!

I have a picture of Heather in the Belle dress! (Many thanks to her mom.)

Here she is in her living room (with a little quick & dirty Photoshop work done by me).

And here she is in some fancy ballroom (with more quick & dirty Photoshop work done by me).

Love Unrequited

“I am mad, head-over-heels, puppy-dog in love!” It was a line from an episode of M*A*S*H (a popular TV show), and Ken was singing it out as he came happily through the door of our third period Physiology class at Kearns High School. I had transferred into the class about halfway through the term and I sat behind Ken. Apparently an announcement like this one from him wasn’t a new thing because Brenda, who sat behind me, laughingly asked, “Oh? Who is it this time?”

I became very busy with homework as Ken bounced into the room, slid into his desk and turned around to face me. For three or four long, uncomfortable seconds our eyes met, while I sat there willing him to not say it. Finally he looked up and said to Brenda, “It’s Teresa."

“Her again?” Brenda teased him a little, and then lost interest. Ken caught my eye again before he turned around and class started. And I wondered a little; did he really mean Teresa? I didn’t think so. Ken was a nice guy; we chatted together during class and dissected rats together in the labs. Well, at least if it was me he was “in love” with, I was very grateful that he didn’t announce it to the whole class—and I was pretty sure that I actually was “the one."

As time went on my suspicions were confirmed—it was me. A couple of times he wandered the lunchroom until he found me, and then sat with me and my friend Rachael. I started ducking my head when I saw him come in, but he always found me anyway. Rachael didn’t see why I was so uncomfortable to have him come looking for me. “He’s cute!” she said. I didn’t usually eat lunch anyway, so I quit going into the lunchroom and just hung out at my locker or in my next classroom during lunch. One time Ken really embarrassed me by finding me and my friends and telling me that he had written a letter for me—and then insisting that I read it right then and there. It was really mushy, and included something about my “eyes as blue as sapphires” and “hair as soft as red satin.” I could have died (and where did the red hair thing come from anyway?)! I was just glad that nobody was reading over my shoulder. When I finished reading the letter he immediately wanted to know how I liked it. After trying to stall a little, I finally gave him some answer that he found unsatisfactory and the subject dropped.

The infatuation did not drop, but to my relief Ken at least became a little more subtle about it.

The funny thing was that I really liked him—we were good friends. Once he came and watched one of my ballet classes at the University of Utah and afterward we went to Trolley Square. (To me that wasn’t a date, just a night out with a friend—same as if Rachael had come.) But he was the only boy I had ever given my phone number; and it was Ken, not Rachael, that I called when I nearly totaled my mom’s car on the day before my A.P. History exam.

I saw him once a few years after high school. He had just returned from his mission and he looked me up. But by then I had already found the true love of my life, and when Ken took me out for a little drive we really didn’t have much to talk about.

Since then I have thought about Ken sometimes, and I wonder whatever happened to him. Looking back, I know that I did love him—not in a mad, infatuated kind of way but, as Eliza Doolittle said, “more friendly-like.” Maybe we could even have gotten married and been pretty happy. But that’s a weird idea! I know I couldn’t be happier than I am with my Bruce, and our eight kids. Still, wherever Ken may be, I wish him to be as happy as I am.

The game is up... ready for the answers?

Before I tell you the answers, here are the scores:

Brandon and Ryan each got one right. Score: 1

Becky got two right on her first guess; on the second guess she got one right, but she also changed one of her correct answers for an incorrect one. Becky's final score: 2
Tami and Lindsey tied with a score of 3

Next were Kaylie and Jason, who got four correct answers; Score: 4
Rachel did very well (and I didn't help with anything but the typing). She scored 5

Michael and Stephanie tied for second place with a score of 6.
And Bruce is so funny because he didn't think he'd know which baby was which. But when he looked at the game he got them all right. Bruce is the grand-prize winner with a perfect score of 8! [He really is a good daddy!]
A bit of trivia: All of my kids knew which baby was Jessica because of her "cow blanket."

And now, the moment you've been waiting for...Here are the true matches for Guess Which Baby?

Baby 1 was Brandon

Baby 2 was Ryan

Baby 3 was Kaylie

Baby 4 was Lindsey

Baby 5 was Michael

Baby 6 was Jessica

Baby 7 was Rachel

and Baby 8 was Jason

Thanks for playing!