SuMmEr DaZe!

I love St. George! I love my home town... I really did enjoy growing up there. We moved to Bloomington Hills before I was in first grade and stayed in that same house until after I graduated high school. We were one of the first families there in bushes so there was plenty of room to run! I remember climbing mountains, running over snakes on my bike (not one of my personal favorite things to do), constructing sprawling huts, and swimming... there was always swimming! Well, I am no longer severing snakes but some things don't change - it's a necessity to swim in St. George. So when we got into town, we made plans to meet John and Denise for a pre-birthday celebration at my dad's pool...Haillie, Julie (my sister), Travy (Julie's baby - not for long:), Taryn, my forehead... seriously... sorry about that, Will (John and Denise's cute boy), Trent, and Patrick - the kid has always had his own style - I LOVE the goggles!

A pretty spectacular view from my lounge chair...
Haillie is a FISH... if she wasn't sliding, then she was jumping off the diving rock, or practicing her front flips or hand stands.
Trent and Taryn taking a ride on the rock slide... if you can get a close-up of her face it's hillarious... you'd think she was scared out of her mind and would never want to do it again, but then we would have to say that you didn't know Taryn very well... this kid is a thrill seeker, seriously!
Taryn, Dad and Hai just loungin'

Fun in the Sun!

Aren't backyards the best place to be? We really love ours... except it's a continual struggle to keep Taryn out of the flowerbeds... the spider infested rocks (I'm sure)... the window wells, off the sharp rock stairs... etc. It's great exercise to have a 1 year old.
Anyway, Tuesday we decided to pull out an old favorite and do some slippin' and slidin'. The girls loved it. Taryn just played in the pool at the end and Haillie and her friend Maddi tried some killer moves on the slide.
Exciting times at the Wimmer's!
Haillie, Taryn, and Maddi strike a pose. It's too bad I didn't get a close-up of how pasty they all look after the triple coating of sunscreen!


Taryn is such a fish... she thinks it's better to be underwater than above.

Can you believe it????!!!!????

Trent ALWAYS laughs at me and makes fun of my "obsession" with Good Things Utah... well, who's laughing now???? ME!... all the way to the bank... well, actually all the way to MY GYM... I won a $250 gift certificate to have a birthday party at this place on.... yes, you got... Good things Utah! It pays to be a dedicated fan!
I'm so stinkin' excited since Taryn turns 1 tomorrow... perfect timing...
More info to come!

Hai's Home!!

Man, six weeks is a long time to be without your baby! But six weeks is up and Hai is finally home!! I had the opportunity to go to St. Louis and spend some daddy daughter time with Hai before she came home, and we had the greatest time! Here's a brief recap of the trip! We had some killer games of Marco Polo in the pool, which was on the 18th floor of the hotel and had a great view of the Arch. We stuffed ourselves with good food and Hai taught me how to make lanyards, that she'd learned to make in her summer camp.

Here's Hai, in front of the Arch! I had to lay down on the sidewalk to fit the Arch in the picture. It's taller than Mt. Rushmore!

BFF! (Best Friends Forever)

We rode to the top of the Arch in this pod-like thing. We rode up with an Asian couple so I got to practice my Chinese! It was like a tram ride, Hai was nervous at first but she toughed it out for her dad and I'm pretty sure she's glad she did it!

View from the top! That's the Mississippi River framed in by the shadow of the Arch. Downtown St. Louis was behind us, but the sun was glaring so we couldn't get a good picture of it. Hai walked down the steps to the river and touched the water, so she can say she's touched the Mississippi!

Isn't she pretty? The Mississippi in the background. The ferry's weren't running because of all the flooding. We could see washed up mud and sand on the streets where the river had flooded.

This is the City Museum. Hai had a blast her climbing all over everything! If you look real close, by the light, you can see Hai's head poking out!

This is the outside portion of the museum. Way cool! That's Hai up in the top crawling down toward the airplane!

All in all we had a great time! I sure enjoyed having that time with her, seeing some of the places she's been to, and learning, a little, what life in St. Louis is like for her. She was ready to come home though. We had a pretty long layover in Denver made longer by Hai's anxiousness to see Jesse and Taryn, but we finally pulled in the driveway at 12:30 a.m. to a big Welcome Home sign on the garage door. The reunion the next morning was awesome! Hai and Taryn are having to get re-acquainted again. A lot can happen in six weeks. Haillie hadn't seen Taryn walk yet!

Anyway, it's nice to be a "whole" family again! Now we can get back to normal life.

Sure love you Hai!

Craft of the Day!

As many of you know, crafts, homemaking, and really anything feminine is not 'the walk I would take'. It's hard for me to sit that long and i usually want to throw up when I see my finished product (and sometimes so does Trent). BUT, things are changing! Isn't life like that! I think it's because I'm around my house much more than ever before. I am TRYING to become a good cook, and also, trying to make more things for our home and for the girls. So, I was at the mall a bit ago and saw the cutest little tutu - I thought Haillie would love it, then I saw Haillie and Taryn dancing around the living room in their little tutu's... I LOVED THAT PICTURE IN MY HEAD... then I saw the price, and I gagged a little bit! $35 for a small one... $45 for Haillie's size. Well, I wasn't going to let that beat me so when the clerk wasn't looking I delved into the tutu to see how it was made... SO EASY!
I made one for Haillie and sent it to her, and one for Taryn... even though Trent says he 'can't even picture Taryn in a tutu'.
How to:
Elastic Banding (Walmart $.97)
6 yards toole (I don't even know how to spell that - $6.00 total)
Measure child's waist, then cut elastic one inch longer (for sewing)
I just hand sewed the elastic together
leave the natural fold in the toole, so it's folded over on itself, and cut it into strips
(on Hai's I cut the toole about 3 inches thick, on Taryn's I cut it about 6 inches - it's not exact and don't worry if you don't cut it straight - it won't matter)
Then simply tie the toole around the elastic in a double not and cut the folded egde (or don't, it looks cute both ways)
Turn on some music and let the girls go!!!!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

We went to Circleville, UT to celebrate the fourth. It's kind of a family tradition so all the kids were there along with tons of cousins, and old friends. It's a town of about 700 just north of Panguitch, it's seriously a bend in the road on Highway 89 - but this place holds my heart! I love this valley, because of the kind people, the beauty, and 'worldlessness' it seems to have (I know that's not a word but I can't think of another). I will continually be trying to talk Trent into moving there!
Taryn is getting really excited about the parade... yes, that really IS the parade in the background. We are in a town where the BIG parade of the year consists of kids on bikes and four wheelers, one or two floats that are trailers with hay bails, and there is so much candy thrown that the on lookers leave half of it on the ground (I want you to know I did my part to keep the earth clean by picking up ALL the candy around me and downing it)!
Roscoe (Shawn and Kristin's son who is one month older than Taryn), Trent, and Taryn are enjoying the parade.

Sharing a sucker with Daddy during the parade... mom just has to pretend not to see ALL this sugar going into her mouth and and look the other way! I am actually a little surprised to see her sharing, but to tell the truth, as CRAZY-WILD as this little kid is, she sure is sweet, lovable and kind.
Taryn is so smart... she even falls right (bum first)! She was having a hard time sitting through the program (big surprise), so walked and walked and walked in the back of the gym. The program was WONDERFUL (well, what I saw of it). It started out with some veterans singing some patriotic songs, a wonderful slide show, and my personal favorite - my cousin, Ryan, a singing a solo. I love small towns for this reason - they are so patriotic and truly love our country and are raised with that love and devotion to serve and protect our country. There are many service men and women from from Circleville, Utah that have served honorably and I am so grateful for their sacrifices for my benefit.
Enjoying a moment without Taryn (it turned out to be only a moment) to enjoy the fireworks!

Their Thing!

One of Taryn's favorite things is to mow the lawn with Daddy! She could go around and around for hours! How CUTE!