I Can't Believe it's the Last Day of February. -Ava

Well, well, well. Another February in the books. This month has consisted of a lot of researching, batch filming/editing videos, a li'l trip to SoCal and Disneyland, and other normal life things. The goal is to get videos all done through June so we can work on finishing the basement in our rental house full time. Content strategy included, of course. 

Pics are in random order, sorry! I don't have the patience to sort them, and stinky Blogger makes it difficult. 20 years of blogging here, folks.  

We managed to get some nice family pictures on the beach at Crystal Cove. It was quite lovely, not windy, good sunset lighting, somewhat cooperative participants. Hallelujah! 
 

The Buzz Lightyear ride got stuck and a I kept shooting one target and getting lots of points. It was fun.

Super Bowl at Kevin and Tonya's included a light show with 4 Teslas, except our Tesla is apparently too old, so it wouldn't sync up with the other ones. Kinda funny. It started doing its own thing when the other 3 were all done. 

The Tesla owners coordinating the big light show. :) 

Aani and her Sweetheart's Date. It was a fun night. 

Book club snacks. I'm in a book rut; not loving anything at the moment. :(

We had a baby sprinkle for one of the YW leaders in our class whose baby is coming soon! The girls decorated these onesies, and we wrote fun messages on diapers. We also all wrote down baby names from A-Z, and that was pretty entertaining. 

We went to Balboa Park in San Diego for a few hours. Nils has been doing push ups every day this year, so he got his in for the day while there. 

Ava wasn't too sure about this sculpture. 

Aani's been doing hair like crazy! She colored Ava's hair again, did my highlights, and has been taking clients! 

Cosmetology school things:

Valentine's Day in Disneyland. A genuinely great day to go there. 

Sis beach pics. 

Tacos at Taco Land in Anaheim. They were yummy.

Aani went to Anaheim AGAIN this week for a hair convention, so Disneyland twice in 2 weeks. What a life. 

Found this scary mural at a sad outdoor mall in Anaheim. Man face, toddler body. And Aani. 

Fun fact about our family and Disneyland: We all love Space Mountain, except Nils. Space Mountain is the destination of choice. It's the music, the darkness, the cool lighting. Nils says it makes him queasy, but he goes on it anyway and doesn't understand why we all love it so much. 

We've all had sickness this month, nothing major, just lots of colds, sore throats, achey bodies, congestion, coughs, etc. Time to be done with all of that. 

March will be (hopefully) full of basement planning/construction/email campaign going. We also have a big trip coming up in April and need to plan it. 😳 More details to come!

Happy March to ya. 

Who Knows Until You Write It

☝ (I asked Nils what the title should be and that's what he said) ☝

Hello. It's 2025. We became a couple in January of 1997. We got engaged on January 3, 2000. WE'VE BEEN A COUPLE FOR 28 YEARS! (A couple of dummies!) 

We celebrated New Year's Eve by taking the girls to The Melting Pot. We had fun, ate a lot of yummies, and got home a few minutes before midnight. 

Addie was thumbs-downing the fact that Aani was taking a selfie. 

Anders went on a trip with some friends to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. They were gone for 4 days and visited 5 national parks, traveled through 5 states, and crossed the border into Mexico. They cray cray. 

Nils and I had a training in the Dominican Republic for a few days. It was a long travel day getting there and a long travel day getting home (12 hours of flying, no direct flights bleh), but we had a good time with friends and colleagues while there. We learned good things. It was pretty warm and the beach was lovely. The resort we stayed at was mediocre in many ways, so that was unfortunate. Food: Meh. Service: Pretty bad. Key Cards: Never worked. Had to go get new key cards literally every time we wanted to get into our room. Will not be returning.

Greg and NataLee, our YouTube BFFs.

A sample of our key card collection. 

For my birthday, Nils and I went to 13 Costcos. I'll just copy my Facebook post here because I'm lazy.

In honor of my birthday today, Nils and I decided to celebrate my 47 years of life, as well as our deep and abiding love of Costco, by visiting 13 Costcos in Utah in one day. From Spanish Fork to Logan and every Costco in between, we took a lap around each store, and ordered one item from the food court from each store. We ate everything on the menu today. Here are some totals for your amusement:

Miles driven: 298

Hours spent: 10

Calories consumed: 8,220 (6,000 of those by Nils, who championed this challenge).

Weight difference from this morning to tonight: 6.2 lb increase

Steps taken: 12,940 (K) 12,653 (N)- Nils says this is because of my short legs.

Potty breaks (only allowed in Costco, which worked out well since that's literally the only place we went today): 5 me, 4 him

Menu items eaten: 13

Drinks drunk: 6

Matching coats worn: 2

Hours of Radiohead played: 6

And, last but certainly not least,

Total $ spent at the Costco Food Court today: $44.15!

'Twas a jolly day indeed.

I believe this picture is from the 13th Costco. We sat down to try and eat one more ice cream and Nils had to eat the cookie. It was a little rough. We were tired and kind of delirious. 

This was Nils' tum tum at the end of the day. He was a champ and ate most of the food, since I can eat very little off the food court menu.

BISHOP'S BASH:

Our ward has had a tradition called the Bishop's Holiday Bash that Nils inherited. It's morphed into a 2 day activity for the youth, and in years past has been a sleepover somewhere. The youth all look forward to it and expect it. Long story short: How do you entertain 69 youth for 2 days without blowing the entire budget? Finding somewhere to spend the night has gotten prohibitively expensive. We also couldn't use the church on Friday night for any activity. This was a quandary. 

Here's what we came up with: 

Friday night: We split the kids into 3 age groups and had a progressive Dinner between 3 houses. White elephant gift exchange at the last house after dessert. 

Saturday: Photo/video scavenger hunt around town for a couple of hours, then Costco pizza and leftover salad and dessert from the night before. Watch the slideshow from the scavenger hunt, play games, basketball, etc. 

'Twas a success, and we got it done for about $500. Not too shabby. Enjoy some pictures from this event. 

This was a different event, a youth broadcast, and we had the oldest kids at our house to watch. 

There's a lot going on all the time.

The same night as the BHB, Ava was performing with the All-State Band in downtown SLC at Abravanel Hall. We rushed from the BHB to that, and it was actually quite an enjoyable concert. Not only did the kids sound amazing, but the acoustics in that venue are top notch!  

We don't know this kid, but he kept standing up after his solos and he would cheese it for a really long time and it made us laugh. 

Aani went to Senior Ball with her friend Jace. 

This is normal now. How did we get here? Weren't they all babies last week? 

These 2 got acai bowls together while Nils and I were in the DR, and sent us a picture to prove they were still alive and well. 

AND...

Addie passed her EMT exam! She was very nervous and it was a hard exam. This is the picture she sent me when she got the email saying she had passed. She starts AEMT school next week! 

Pip has had a couple of scary seizure-like episodes in the last few months. She had one last Saturday, so we took her to the vet. It turns out that she has heart disease. Her heart is enlarged, and her aorta is huge. She also has a partially collapsed trachea. In spite of all of this, she acts like nothing is wrong 99.9% of the time, and is as perky as ever. Her passion for chasing birds is stronger than ever.

The heart disease is causing syncopic episodes, which looks like a seizure and is very scary. She basically looks like she dies and goes totally limp. It's awful. 

She will be on 3 medications for the rest of her life, however long that may be. She's 12. We've always been convinced she will live forever.

Okay, it's time for our Friday night date night, so I'm gonna wrap up. Thanks for reading. Time to get Nils a burger. 

What in the December?!

Oh my heavens, we've nearly made it. We were looking at the calendar for 2025, and we're already booked 6 months out. What even is happening. 

2024 Rasmusson Family Newsletter: 

• Anders is working for us full time and is doing a great job. He's a great editor and has helped tremendously with the workflow. He's learning the method to the madness of content creation, and we're genuinely thankful for his talents. He travels as much as he can, whether with us or smaller trips with friends. It hasn't been the easiest year for him, but life is trending up for him, and he continues to work hard to feel well and to do what he can do to help himself. He dislocated his shoulder while snowboarding a couple of weeks ago, and were told today that surgery is going to be a good option. *Cue crying by me*. So, that's going to happen sooner than later. *Cue crying by me again.* Friggin' shoulders! 

• Addie became a certified medical coder, and then proceeded to avoid doing anything related to that. She managed the outdoor pool, taught all classes related to lifeguarding, CPR, lifeguard instructor training, etc. She couch rotted for about 2 months after the outdoor season ended, then started and is finishing up EMT school. She'll continue on to AEMT school (Advanced EMT) in February, do some ride-alongs with the paramedics, plans on managing the outdoor pool again this summer, and then is looking to go to paramedic school in the fall. What a switch-a-roo! We're excited for her since she's really enjoying this field. 

• Aani's life has changed a lot this year, too. She started out with regular high school, working at McDonald's, hanging out with friends, and all the other normal high school things. Now she's basically done with high school, works at Swig, goes to Cosmetology school, and hangs out with friends when she can- but they call her a "side character", since she's largely unavailable now. She's loving cosmetology school, but it's a really big commitment. When she's not working or at school, she's doing homework. Who knew it would be so much? Not I. 

• This year has probably been the last super chill year for Ava. She's enjoyed plenty of time "hanging out and having fun" (Addie's favorite phrase of what she always wants to do, aka NOTHING). She's a good student, and a good kid. She just got her learner's permit, and is currently taking a lifeguard training class (taught by her big sis, Addie Paige). She'll likely start working as a lifeguard before long. Crazy stuff! Ava has taken to reading big time this year, and is mostly found reading in the book nook she's created in her room. 

• As for Nils and me, this year has been absolutely crazy in so many ways. The bishop thing has really been a kick in the butt. We've had to restructure many aspects of life because of it. It's like a 25-30/hr a week job. We've had a lot of heart to heart convos to figure out what needs to be eliminated from life in order to make room, and I'm sure we'll have to continually analyze and adjust as time marches on. As much of a challenge it's presented, it's also been a very cool experience for Nils and he's doing a great job. 

The business is going well, we've got lots of plans in the works and are anxious to see how 2025 goes.

We've traveled more than ever this year, both because of work, and as a family. We're taking the philosophy that we need to cram it in while we can and enjoy this phase of our family life. 

My shoulder is still on the struggle bus, 9 months after surgery. They lie and tell you it will be 4-6 months of recovery, and then when it's been 6 months, they tell you it will be a year. SHOULDERS! LIES! 

We're blessed abundantly in a million different ways, and are also challenged in a million different ways, and that's just life, ain't it? 

Newsletter: Fin

Photos from December:

We test drove a Cyber Truck today. Nils wants. Nils most likely won't get. Everyone in our family is super embarrassed of them except him. There's also the barrier of obscene cost. 

P.S. It's nicer on the inside. 

We had a yummy Christmas steak dinner with Kevin and Tonya's fam! All the Martinelli's! Anders cooked the steaks and they were delish. 

Christmas!

Ava's Christmas band concert. 

This kid lives in the neighborhood, and he likes to come over all the time and shoot pigeons with the air soft gun. The pigeons are legitimately out of control, so this is mostly fine with us. 

Ward Christmas party!

Addie and the Pipster. 

We played the game Pip (the game, not the dog), and I won with a low score of 9! I had to document, because it has never happened before, and I'm sure it will never happen again. 

Learner's Permit for the Flave!

This is how Aani sleeps. To say she's invested in her hair would be the understatement of the century. 

The sky was cool the other night. It was dark outside, but the sky was blue. 

Anders' Christmas van. 

Apparently Aani decorated all the eggs. 

Keepin' it classy with McNugget stockings. You know you're jealous. 

Ava and her friends, Harper and Julia, performed a song at the ward Christmas party. Aani also played a violin solo. Love them. 

May 2025 be filled with all of the best for you and yours!