The Duck Whisperer

We met a friendly, domesticated duck at the park yesterday
that followed Kimberly everywhere.

On another note, I tried french braiding Kimberly's hair years ago and finally gave up because here hair was so thick, it never looked quite right. Well, after some encouragement from my mother-in-law, I attempted it with Alicia's hair. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would because her hair is really fine and easier to work with.

And last but not least, you know you need to dust when
your kids start writing their names in the dust.

In all fairness to my cleaning abilities, this is after John finished sanding in our bedroom.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

We had friends over the other day and enjoyed several activities with them - including John's famous water bottle rockets. We have been doing them for years and have even had people borrow the rocket launcher because they are so much fun. That is until this particular day. John and the girls spent a good while making their rockets with fins and all. Then John added the new design for this year...golf balls to make the rockets go higher. Well, they certainly made the rockets go higher. Take a look...

All was going really well at first and we were having a great time, as usual. Not as much fun was the one rogue rocket that went really high, then fell really hard onto our neighbor's car, inflicting a nasty dent. A call to the dent fixing people was in order for us.

Not to be deterred, we still had a good time afterwards making "dirt", a dessert classic at our house and then enjoying some smores at our new fire pit.

For some strange reason, my blog isn't letting me format the pictures the way I want, so you get them in one big jumble above. You're probably wondering about the picture with Kimberly and the bird. She found a cute little baby bird that keeps falling out of it's nest. Before we put it back in it's rightful home, Kimberly fed it some worms. It grossed me out, but it was sure cute to see the bird clicking it's little beak open and shut begging for more worms.

Summer Fun

Summer is officially here - the girls are out of school, and what I was once dreading, I am now enjoying. I am amazed at how well it is going so far.

Here is what we have done to have fun:

I bought 2 packages of balloons with a pump - total cost $8.
Total hours of fun - 4 hours and then some. I will definitely go back to buy more packages before the summer is out.

This has been my best idea so far...a puzzle table in the dining room. Whenever the girls get bored, or even many times when they're not, they wander over and spend some time working on whatever puzzle is out on the table. I think the girls are currently working on their 7th puzzle.

I've decided to do a fun treat a week. Last week it was these beauties. They looked a little more professional in the magazine, but they still tasted good! Chocolate covered peanut butter balls. Yum.

Beach, Beach, and more Beach

Got the enjoy the beach on the Oregon Coast this weekend. 'nuff said. (you should all know by now that the beach is one of my absolutely most favorite places to be)

Pseudo-Camping and More...

We smelled and lived out summer this weekend and I can now say I am excited that summer is upon us. I absolutely love summertime in Utah - camp outs, dutch oven dinners, swimming, beach fun, bike rides, hiking, lazy summer nights...

Summer is definitely in the air at the Rimington household. We love camping. However, with a baby and a 3-year-old, I wasn't loving the idea of camping this year, so we tried something else out this weekend- - pseudo-camping. We spent 5 glorious hours up in the mountain air drinking in the smoky allure of campfire, dutch oven food, and conversation with good friends, then got to come home and sleep in our very own comfy bed.


This is what I love about Utah - being a mere 30 minutes away from camping fun, whereas growing up in the northwest, it was a 90 minute trek to the mountains.

We also got the pleasure of doing more construction (is construction really pleasurable?) - this time the master bedroom. I can officially say I am not the best construction assistant for John, but alas, I am the one who got to help him on Monday put up the light boxes around the room. The first one went up really well without a hitch...


The second one, however, was a different story. It had many glitches, so in the process, a board went through the window. Oops. Good thing we were planning on putting in a new window as part of this remodel. Guess we'll be replacing it a little sooner than planned.


I also had a rare treat this weekend - a visit with my brother who was in town for a couple of days.


Well, now the weekend fun has led us into the weekly grind, which as usual means trouble from Natalie...



Perhaps next time she'll remember to use a knife for her sandwich making process.

More Family Fun

More of Natalie's antics ensued this weekend. After having pancakes for dinner on Sunday (remember how much I hate cooking big meals on Sunday due to lack of energy?), most of us plopped on the couches in the family room and started watching TV while listening to the torrential rain dumping outside.

Meanwhile, Natalie helped herself to one last pancake and a whole bottleful of syrup onto her plate - one hitch in her plan - the syrup somehow ended up on the floor. Yes, that's right - a nearly-full bottle of syrup ALL dumped on the floor. I spent the rest of the evening and into the next day trying to get all the stickiness removed.




On a brighter note, Kimberly had her Dance Recital on Saturday night where she performed with her Irish dancing class. I love watching dance recitals, but I really love watching the Irish dances the best.

And here's to prove to all of you that my husband is still a little kid at heart (which of course the girls love).

Lovin' Spring Time

Having recovered from the hair drama, we quite enjoyed the weekend of sunshiny, warm weather. We enjoyed a fishing trip - no fish, but a dream sitting by the water, bathing in the warm sunshine as it set, and viewing the mountain grandeur. Heavenly. (not quite as heavenly as the beach, mind you, but still heavenly.)






We also got to visit and pet this cute gal...

One of our neighbors invited us over to see their mini-pony.
I've never been up close to one this small before!

I also got to enjoy another date with my honey Friday night with absolutely NO children. I am really loving having an older baby I can leave with a sitter. We were gone for five whole hours of bliss!! We checked out the Pirates of the Carri - BEEN, a spoof off the movie at the Deseret Star Theater. It was a lot of fun, especially followed up with a most delish shake from the famous Iceberg place in Salt Lake.

Now we're back to the grind this week as I soak up as much enjoyment of the kids being at school as possible before the dreaded summer break begins.