Jun 18, 2013

disgustingly happy

Look, I don't mean to make you horrendously jealous but it is now 9:45am and I am sat on my front porch, in the warm sun, with my laptop on -surprise!- my lap. Max and Elliot have each mounted one of our many plastic, wheeled contraptions and are happily scooting around our cul-de-sac as I listen to their delighted squeals and the various birds singing my welcome to this day.

Life, as it turns out, is good!
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I try to be wary of portraying our lives as a constant flow of smiles and rainbows because it's just not like that. Right now though, I am in the lucky position to be able to tell you that that is honestly how it is for us. Sure we have some worries and things that force us back into a more balanced thought of 'oh yeah, the world wasn't created with the sole purpose to bring the Koots happiness.' I mean, our basement got flooded the day after we put in new carpet. The guys who are placing a fence around our yard to keep our kiddies safe basically murdered our sprinkler system in 4 different places, costing us a significant extra amount of moulah. Our old health insurance company is trying to fine us for thousands of Euros because supposedly we weren't insured for a couple of months, while we have shown them over and over again that we were at that time completely insured here in the US. And on top of that we still really, really miss our beloved Holland and the wonderful people we left behind along with it.DSC_7906 DSC_8195 DSC_8194 DSC_8200 DSC_8241 DSC_8284 So I suppose there is plenty for us to worry about and feel stress over. I'm not sure whether it's the peace of knowing we are on the right track in life, or the beauty of our current surroundings, or the slowed pace of summer vacation. Most likely it's all of those elements combined that have been working towards us being possibly the happiest we have ever been. So again, sorry if this post is making you feel like puking, or perhaps like slowly and methodically torturing me until I'm a little less freakin' happy... but this is just how it is and I can't keep it to myself!DSC_8266 DSC_8256 DSC_8159 DSC_7912 Pictures are of some of the scenery found in our back yard. You know the one. That yard that is the most intimidating part of this house for me. That one that broke two lawn mowers since we moved in and took a full week of work to get into somewhat reasonable shape. Yeah, I guess it's also kind of pretty.

Jun 10, 2013

hot fun in the summertime

With the temperatures having risen to a steady 85-99 degrees F here in Utah (that's 29-37 C) we have been spending most of our time in the shade, near water, and enjoying our wonderful backyard. While these high temperatures can only motivate me to curl up into a ball of sweaty misery next to the air conditioning vent, the kids seem to thrive on them. They know our summer vacation treat this year is a season pass to the local water slide park and that is the sole topic of harassment. I was going to say 'conversation' but when you have 4 kids constantly bombarding you with whine-question torpedoes, harassment is really more accurate.

*quick in-between-note: Lara just informed me that she will name her first daughter Wendy's, and her first son Denny's. I figure she should just have 4 more boys so she can name them Five Guys. (that one was thanks to my mom's quick wit)*DSC_7862 DSC_7872 DSC_7886 DSC_7883
It's safe to say these guys love the Slip 'n Slide. Unfortunately our outside water pressure leaves a bit to the imagination. Anybody out there have any ideas on how to deal with that? The water is supposed to be shooting up at least 2 feet and instead we get a pathetic 2 inches. Though I must admit the girls found a way to make it work:DSC_7888 DSC_7879 DSC_7901 
I have to say, I have a feeling this summer is going to be really nice. We have our weekly kid's movie passes ($1 per child for 1 movie each week for 10 weeks of summer), our water park passes, one more month of gym membership with access to the outdoor pool, Oma and Maarten coming to visit in July (yay!), weekly library activities, and the South Ogden splash pad. We've also planned a few short camping trips around Utah. Add to that the yard with sprinklers, jungle gym, and slip 'n slide... and I think we'll be O.K.! 

Oh and I nearly forgot: summer music!


*another side note: Julia knocked on my bedroom door early this morning all wide-eyed and serious looking. Here is what she had to report: "Mom there are ghosts in the living room. I can see them because of the little boy in my brain. He says there is also one in daddy's office but that he is a bad one and we're not supposed to look at him." 
I have put her up for sale on Ebay, she's yours for real cheap.*
 
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