Thank You Mr. President.

Specifically, President Roosevelt for setting aside a ton of national forest areas for us to enjoy.

We decided to honor his legacy and all other Presidents on Monday (since remember, John now gets every famous and unfamous government holiday off - woo-hoo) by enjoying those national forests with a bit of adventure -

Snow mobiling up Logan Canyon. We dropped off the two youngest girls at Grandma's house (thank you very much mom rimington) and sped on up to the lodge where we rented two snowmobiles and the fresh layers of powder from the weekend snow falls were just calling our name.

That is until 5 minutes into the adventure when I got my snowmobile stuck. oops. and then John got his snowmobile stuck trying to get mine unstuck. enter gps thingy the lodge gave us if we needed rescuing.

At this point I was wondering how many more times we would need the rescue beacon and $20 each time they had to come rescue us.

Anyway, after we were thus rescued, we forged ahead on some beautiful trails just laden with fluffy snow, and beautiful trees and valleys lining each side of the trail. I was thinking as I sped along with my speedster and Alicia behind me how much I love, love, love living in Utah with all of the magnificent snow activities just minutes from our house, then when we hit warmer months, beautiful hiking trails, then of course in the summer, camping, campfires, smores, beach fun at the lakes. I need to stop there. Now I'm getting all giddy for summertime. Reigning myself back in for the wintertime fun. Isn't it nice to have seasons?

So, we were all the way in the deep forests of Idaho, having crossed the border about halfway through the trek when we decided to turn around. Before doing so, John found a nice meadow where he could power his way through the thigh-deep snow. He did encounter one minor problem - a tree . To his credit, he was trying to turn, but with the deep snow, was having slight technical trouble. Kimberly and I watched as the tree shuddered when John and Alicia ran into it. Poor tree. Poor us having to dig ourselves out. No, we didn't have to page the rescue squad that time.

We actually discovered this place 12 years ago when we were still going to school up in Logan.

When we were finished on Monday, John asked me why we hadn't thought to do this sooner since we had so much fun. I had to remind him of the many years I spent either pregnant or nursing a baby. Now that we've had our last and she is well past nursing, we are excited about being in this next stage of life when we can enjoy such adventures.

Three Generations

Who knew when my mom learned to ski on the slopes at Brighton Ski Resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon that she would be skiing in that exact location down the road with her daughter and her granddaughter.

My mom came to visit this last weekend, so we decided to take advantage of all the Utah snow they keep hyping about in the TV ads. Trust me, the hype is well-justified. Nothing sweeter than a luscious trail of powdery fluff for us ski bums to plow our way through (okay, literally, Kimberly plowed, while my mom carved beautiful parallel patterns - and me, somewhere in between).

In other news on the Rimington front, I am currently on a loaner computer because our hard drive completely failed. Yup. Kapoot. No workee. Adios computer files. Sigh. New computer parts, here we come - in about a week. And it's only a 50 percent chance we'll be able to recover our data from said failed hard drive. Technology is a beautiful thing, ain't it?

Pink gets Even Pinker

I started another sewing project.

Using a lot of this -

And some of this -

TA-DA! I worked on it last night and am thrilled with the results. I'm also thankful both my mom and mom-in-law were only a phone call away when I had questions throughout the evening.

I'm making Easter skirts for the girls - and myself. Alicia was the first 'victim', only because when I cut the skirt out, intending it to be for Kimberly, it was a few inches shy of covering her glutious maximus, so it became Alicia's skirt. Now onto the next 4 skirts. Good thing Easter is still two months away.

And given that ALL of the girls in this family (yes, that would be 5 out of the 6 of us) will be in pink for Easter, it seemed only fitting for John to match us. Guess how long it took me to talk John into buying this tie...

I can't wait for Easter to be upon so we can show up at church in all of our pink glory!

Wait. Clearly the skirts are slightly more coral than John's bright pink tie. We may have to make some slight adjustments.

A Lot of Sweaty Writing

I've been knee-deep in sweat and working on a hefty story this past week, so therefore, no recent blog postings. I've started a new workout program called Insanity. I can assure you it lives up to its name and I have been sweating in bucketfuls.

In the hours of recovery from that lovely activity, I have been working on this story that landed itself on the front cover of Sunday's newspaper. After 8 interviews, 8 pages of typed notes and 2 pages of handwritten ones, I finally had all of the information I needed to write up the investigative piece my editor gave me at the beginning of the week. I may have stirred up some controversy, but all in a day's work as a journalist, right?

http://www.standard.net/topics/education/2011/02/05/teaching-webcam-reaches-larger-audience-students

As for the rest of my time, I'm usually trying to keep up with this gal, who at nearly 16 months is finally walking.

...and this is the side I usually see the most of as she is always off and running to find the next something or other to get into.

Wait - I did get her to stop for a minute -

She's smiling because she knows what trouble she will be getting into next and what joy I will have cleaning up that trouble.

Anyway, now that I'm done with this blog session, the moment I've been dreading all morning has arrived - another round of Insanity.

My New Addiction

Cookie Dough Brownies.

I am addicted to these tasty beauties.
(along with just a few other addictions that shall remain nameless).

Two of my favorite things in the world - cookie dough and homemade brownies. Why didn't I think of combining these two heavenly creations sooner?!? Pure bliss to my utterly delighted taste buds.

I have been trying to lose the last of the lingering baby pounds (thank you very much Megan). This creation is not helping. No, not one bit.

I will share my recipe with you, but only after you have read the following:

WARNING: Do not come begging to me for help when you find yourself with an addiction on your hands, dreaming of eating them, and finding yourself counting down the minutes before inserting said addiction into your mouth just frothing with desire. Because if you do, I will merely hand over a plateful of these goodies and tell you to continue enjoying such delicious yumminess.

Consider yourself warned.

First off, I start out with this oh-so-delic fudgy-like brownies:

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup (2 cubes) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and remove from heat when chips are fully melted. In the same pot, blend in the sugar. Then add eggs, blending fully one at a time. Add flour and salt and beat until air bubbles form in the batter. Pour into greased 9x13-inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 325 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes.

I have absolutely no idea why it calls for the changing of the guard on the oven, but I do as I'm told, and they turn out splendidly. This is the exact reason why I very nearly failed Nutrition 101. I mean, really, how hard is it to study food? I am here to testify that learning about food is several notches above Chemistry 101. Apparently, there is a lot of chemical reactions in food. I can still remember my feeling of dread on the first day as I realized it was definitely not going to be the easy general ed class I thought it was going to be.

'Nuff said on that matter.

As if the brownie layer wasn't good enough on its own, we add the heavenly layer of cookie dough on top. Mind you, because this is cookie dough, the brownies need to be stored in the fridge, that is if they are not completely gobbled up by the natives in one sitting. At first, I was discouraged because the fridge made the brownies hard and not as appealing.



Enter the reason why I am addicted -

Warm up your piece of brownie ever so slightly in the microwave, just enough to melt the chocolate chips in the cookie dough layer and gradually let the cookie dough spill over the sides of the brownie layer. Utter divineness right there my friends.


Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla (or in my case, the imitation kind - why would I ever pay a fortune for real vanilla? I've tasted the stuff, and its not as great as they claim)
3/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoons over cooled brownies. Carefully spread over top (slightly tricky - just get a wooden spoon or spatula slightly wet and smooth out).

I have to confess, for the cookie dough layer, I found it didn't make quite enough, so I did another 1/2 of the recipe - not double, just half, (totally 1 1/2) and that was more than enough.

Now for the moment of truth. Take a bite. I am slightly afraid you may never forgive me for bringing these into your life. Once you taste it, you will never be able to go back. So just keep that in mind if you dare delve into these. I did warn you.

Snow and Boys.

It's snowing today.
Finally.

Good thing too, because the rain last week wreaked havoc on the existing snow and pretty soon my yard was naked, er, rather, the deadly winterized grass was revealed. Here's to hoping I get to use the snow blower today. I may have to duke it out later with John. Better go beef up my muscles now.

Snow - lots of it - means we get to do things like this...


Which, as most of you all know, can lead to a broken back or two. You'd think John would be adverse to sledding as a result, but no, you can still find him doing this a time or two, or three or four...

Actually, it kind of worked out for my benefit. It is what is allowing me to take the girls up skiing when they get old enough. Originally John thought skiing might be a little too "dangerous." Who knew the sled had other plans for him a few years back.

And of course, I couldn't resist taking pictures of these cuties. I couldn't seem to get the older two to stop sledding long enough for a picture. So don't go thinking I love them any less. Because I don't.

Moving on.

In case you're wondering what in the world boys have to do with snow, well, it doesn't.

However, Kimberly is getting a little too close to boys for my comfort level doing things like this...

and a little of this too...

Remember when I told you at the beginning of the school year Kimberly signed up for every activity possible at school? This is one of them. Ballroom Dancing, which she loves, loves, loves. I'm glad she enjoys it, but one thing we get to do as part of the activity is venture out to a few ballroom dancing competitions (didn't realize I signed up for that part of it). At the recent competition, her team won a silver ribbon and the school won the spirit award.

Fun Times Indeed.

A Little of This, a Little of That

Megan's Shot of the Week.
I'm really trying very hard to make sure the youngest Rimington doesn't get the raw end of the deal when it comes to family album portion space.

And in other news on the Megan front, she has finally decided to up and start walking on us this past week at 15 - 1/2 months.
She is sure growing up fast.

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I have learned a couple things from a recent ski outing with Kimberly I wanted to share with you.

#1) Always Listen To Your Mother. She's Usually Right.

When she tells you to grab your coat on the way out to the car,
it's usually a good idea.
Good thing I had an extra sweatshirt to share with Kimberly when we discovered her blunder up at the ski place.

#2) Never say, 'I Can't'. I watched yesterday as a blind woman skied down the hill and several others who couldn't walk ski happily down the hill. I will never say 'I Can't' again.

The blind woman was skiing behind her partner as he skied with his poles behind him, tapping them steadily the entire way down the mountain so she knew where to ski.

As for the ones who couldn't walk, they sat in toboggan like things with little skis in each hand with someone pushing their sled thing down the hill. The person pushing would tell the rider which hand to use for their mini-ski so they could help in the skiing process.

I was sincerely humbled at how much I am able to do and yet I still complain at times or think I can't do something.
(No John, you do not get to make a comment here.)

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And last, but not least,

Drum Roll Please,

I am no longer the primary chorister.
Shocker, I know, but after nearly 3 years (and 3 primary programs), I have been released and have a perfectly lovely, non-demanding calling now as the ward music chairman.
Can you even ask for a better calling?
I think not.