Lets Get Together

A few weeks ago (July 19-22) we drove up to Vegas/Mesquite for a mini reunion on the Rasmussen side. Steve's oldest brother, Roger, and his family were going to be in town (they live in KY) so we wanted to take the opportunity to see them. I think it has been at least 4 or 4.5 years since we last saw them. Amazingly enough no one in our family got sick this trip! Hallelujah!! But I was prepared, I had packed an entire box of ziploc bags for puking into. So this is the first time in a few years since all the siblings have been together at the same time. We really missed having Daddy Dan there. This is Dave and Jenn's little boy Peyton (left) and Sadie. He is one month older than Sadie.

A few years ago, when Dave and Jenn got married Luke was about 10 months old. He was heavy too. Roger was the only one in his family able to make it to the wedding so he was the only one to meet Luke. He helped me with him and held him for me. Ever since then Rog has checked in on how Luke was doing. Rog requested a picture with Luke.

Ethan and Adam, the two five year old boys....and the guns explain it all. I think being able to play with all of Jaxon and Tyler's guns was one of the highlights of this trip for Ethan. We are so excited to have Allen and Anna come down to Oceanside now that Allen will be stationed at Camp Pendleton, these cousins will get to see lots more of each other.

Oh my hot!!! We went swimming in the pool a bunch of the family went swimming in the river too. My boys didn't seem phased by the heat though. They were just play, play, play 24 hours a day.

More pool fun. Luke is about to jump into the pool and Rog is ready to catch him. This is one of Luke's favorite things to do at the pool and I'm so glad he had someone else to catch him because his splash is a doozy! Luke has improved leaps and bounds in the pool this summer thanks to swimming lessons. He never wanted to use floaties and wouldn't get off the top step and now he'll actually swim to you! I love swimming lessons.

My fish. Ethan has really taken to his swimming lessons. He seems like a natural swimmer. One requirement though, goggles. Must. Have. Goggles.

All the brothers went golfing one morning. This a picture of them after they got back. I didn't dare hug Steve, I could see the sweat soaked shirt. But I'm glad they had fun.

Monday evening we gathered in Wil and Sherrie's backyard for a little FHE. Wil taught a great lesson on Pioneers since we were close to Pioneer day and Sherrie brought out the jumbo Otter Pops. Afterward we wrangled all the kids up to take a picture. We've grown in a few short years. I can't believe how old Brooklyn is. It makes me try to imagine Ethan or Luke being 14 and that just blows me away.

It was a great reunion! Thanks to Sherrie and Wil for hosting all of us. I'm so glad we got to see everyone (most, we missed Jenn and Dan).

9 month Sadie

• has 6 teeth; four upper and two lower
• I LOVE her stinky body smell, her soft cinnamon rolls, kissing her neck (especially under the chin) and armpits
• crawls with her belly on the floor, its painful to watch when she hits the tile and doesn't have any clothes on
• has the best laugh in the world
• is eating all kinds of foods but she just adores bananas
• weighs 24 lbs. 30 in. long which translates to 99th % for weight and 100th % for height
• LOVES her daddy

List

1. This is probably the 100th time in the last 8 weeks I've fallen off the weight loss wagon. I need a swift kick to Timbuktu, seriously. I DESPERATELY wanted a donut this morning. And then I wanted a churro when I was at Costco. Guess what I did instead? Drank a V8. Yep. Exciting huh? Is this what turning 30 means? What's up with deciding to lose weight and then craving everything BUT the healthy, clean food? Geez. I thought about starting a non-private blog to chronicle my weight loss journey but who wants to read that? Apparently, no one according to my FB status. I know I love reading weight loss books. 2. Mesquite was too darn hot. Really, I've always known I could never live in Arizona but I think I'm going to have to add Nevada to that list. Sorry, Sher. I have decided I would MUCH rather live in cold climates than sweltering hot ones. When its over 100 degrees outside I am immoblized. Something about the cold I can still keep going. Besides, layering is much more condusive to hiding muffin tops. I'm liking it. I am purposefully leaving out all the lovely aspects of our recent trip to Mesquite for another post. As soon as I get some more pics from my super awesome sisters in law...hint..hint (Anna, you're off the hook since your life is a tad too crazy at the moment but don't expect the special treatment for too long). 3. You know the movie "The Village" that M. Night Shyamalan did back in 2004? I want to do that. I guess its kind of like the whole Zion idea for us Mormons (ok, I know I'm stretching a little here and yes, I know I just equated a movie to a Mormonism...sorry). I'm just getting close to sending my little boy into the cold dark world of kindergarten and I'm getting scared. Scared for what this is starting in my life. Scared for the innocence he's going to lose. Scared for the topics we're going to have to address. Scared for the cruelty of children and bullies. I know my village would have bullies too and sex talk still but at least I know the people and want to know them. What do you do when you don't like one of your kids' parents? Geez, I don't want to grow up. I can tell you this though, I would want all of you faithful followers to be in my village. It would be lovely. 4. I hate how blogger doesn't let you upload pictures very easily. Come on, haven't they figured that out already? I picture a swarm of computer geeks (I say that lovingly, I'm married to one) sitting around their computers thinking of how to solve the problems of the eletronic world and this upload picture on Blogger should be at the top of their list. I should be able to upload pictures as I go and not have to do it first and then organize my post around it....geez, inconvenient! 5. I want to go to Utah. Do you know the main reason (there are many reasons but emphasis is on main) why I want to go to Utah? Because I want to go to this bakery. I knew this girl growing up. Not bffs or anything but we went to seminary together and attended the same building for church. Now I wish I had put more effort into knowing her when I was younger. I'm so happy for her. I think its awesome what she's doing. I filled out the interest sheet for her bakery's expansion but I don't think I could commit to it or even pony up the moola for it. Dreamland. 6. Speaking of going to bakeries, I'm having fun pretending to be a baker. I've got two orders this week, one cookies and one cake. Its ironic because I never took a Home Ec class in high school. I was far from interested in this stuff "in my early years." But I remember while I was at BYU I started getting interested in cake decorating. Everytime I walked by that flower shop in the bottom floor of the Wilk (do any of you Alumni remember the name of that shop?) and see their signs advertising the classes. Each time I would think to myself - that would be fun to do but never did. Now that I've started its like I don't want to stop. I can't stop watching cake decorating shows. I can't stop bookmarking baking sites. Tell me, how can a girl lose weight when all she wants to do is bake cake? Its a hardknock life I tell ya. 7. Thinking of signing up to do another half marathon. The Long Beach half in October. Still in the very early stages of deciding, feeling lazy about training. 8. I want my brother to marry a girl that does hair. I really want him to. Purely selfish, I know, but still. Do you think its wrong if I pray for that? Haha....honestly though, it would work for both of us. He likes cute girls and girls that do hair are generally really cute. He likes saving money and being able to do hair saves a TON of money. He's usually dated kind of weird girls (sorry Joseph) and this would pretty much guarantee that she isn't weird and all the sisters would LOVE her. Sounds like a perfect plan. Joseph, go forth and conquer. 9. Pet peeves for the day: 1. people who can't merge while driving. Seriously, stopping to wait for someone to let you merge into their lane is a BAD IDEA. Ugh. 2. When I'm headed to a checkout lane at the grocery store, especially Costco, and some lady beelines it in a full sprint from the other end of the store to get there before me. How old are we? Does it really save you THAT much more time? Don't you see I have three children with me? Ugh.

I will follow you...

I just have to say that I love Emily Nedry and Esther Lim. They are two great girls. Beautiful, talented, witty, intelligent. Emily is a fantastic mother of one cutie toe-head boy named Jack. Esther is a funky, skinny bone, child advocate and a mean karaoke singer. Thank you for being my followers and not being afraid to let me know. For the rest of you, make yourselves known on the sidebar "followers" please. I'd love you forever and ever, honest.

Happy Fireworks Day

We had a pretty low key 4th of July. The boys spent the majority of the day with Vovo and Cookie (family friend, that's her nickname...fits too, because she's so sweet) then we met up with them at dinner time. Cookie is addicted to her camera and she seems to think my kids are good material to photograph. I snuck in this one. Sadie LOVED chomping on some watermelon. She is so ready for big kid food. I gave her some guacamole too and she fell in love.

My mom has the birds back. I don't know if they belong to her now or if they are still on loan from Jasmine but my boys love "having" pets. I kind of like this arrangement too, they claim them as pets but I don't have to take care of them! Sweet. These are the kind of cool things grandparents do I guess. Ethan wanted to show me how brave he is to hold Pogo (or is this one Ernie?) on his shoulder.

Hamburgers....mmmm.....honestly, the kids weren't as interested in eating as they were in playing. Maybe that's the behavior I need to adopt? haha....

Grandpa Powers getting in some snuggle time with Miss Patriotic.

The first to fall

Tooth. Its all about the teeth, Ethan's teeth. He lost his first tooth yesterday. While we were at the park I noticed him playing with it and how loose it was. I hadn't realized how close it was to coming out. I think it was the apple he was chomping on that morning that finally got it going. The gum above the tooth was red and funny looking so I called the dentist and asked them about it. They said they should take a look at it and might have to pull it themselves if they suspect an infection (Uncle Al said the same thing during his consultation). I set the appointment for the next afternoon and just waited.

Wiggle, wiggle. Then after I had put the boys down for bed Ethan came out of his room asking if I could pull his tooth. I didn't think he would really let me. I took him into the bathroom and just started wiggling it. He flinched a little when I tried pulling it but didn't react more so I pulled harder. I could hear the flesh tearing and then POP it was out! He was so excited. I was so impressed with how brave he was, way to go Ethan!

I can't believe his cute face. He's losing teeth...how cute. I inspected his gums this morning and they aren't red anymore. The indentation has improved a bunch too. Hopefully I can cancel the dentist appt. without being charged a fee. Ethan was excited to see the tooth fairy left him a dollar in exchange for his tooth! He says he is going to save his money for a Transformer mask (they are like $40 so he'll have to lose all his teeth and then some for that thing...or maybe Christmas will come before then).

8 month old...snot

Sadie girl is sprouting teeth, in abundance. And she's coming out of a nasty cold. And she's eight months old! Stop it. Stop it already. ALL. OF. IT. She is quite the good sitter. Here she is checking out some sand for the first time. I wonder what goes through her head at this moment? What a pretty girlie. Come here let me kiss that exposed neck!

This is the cold. The nasty cold that brought the nasty booger snot draining out her beautiful nose. A few nights of sleep were lost due to this booger of a cold. She's got a nasty cough too, poor Sade.

This is the cutest development, she's scooting...the military crawl. She started off by that black bean bag behind the table and headed to the toys on the floor to the right of the table. When she couldn't find a way through she turned and went under the table. I caught her coming out of it. My little girl is going mobile. I think I'm going to cry.

Where have eight months gone?

First Father and Sons campout

Here is a story of two boys who got to go on their first real campout with their dad. They waited patiently all day to go. They even took naps happily, knowing the priviledge was worth sacrificing play time for. Upon returning home from work, their dad packed up their tent, cooler with drinks, food, clothes and off they went! They had lots of fun with shmashmallows and chips, playing with cousins, going to bed late, and rolling around in the dirt. The two boys awoke to a delicious breakfast of donuts and treats and more time to dig, run and check out the guns the older guys got to practice with. These two boys came home by lunch with contented faces. It was a good story. Here is the gang: Luke, Ellie holding Zane and Ethan. Whatcha lookin' at Lukester?

Ellie has learned well, must clean...even the dirt!

Photo op, daddio and Ethan.

Breakfast of champions!

Sadie and I just hung out at home...in a quiet home, waiting for our men to come back. We were so glad to see them again the next day! What a way to start the summer off. (June 19-20, 2009)

Carbloading

A meat eater is a carnivore. A vegetarian is someone who loves eating plants. What do you call someone who can't get enough carbs? Carbitarian? Breadivore, maybe? Is there a term for this? Google didn't produce anything....

I've got bread on my mind. I'm on a diet. I hate that word. And its not really true. I'm not dieting, I'm trying to drop some weight that has found its way onto my body and, as most of you know, carbs are usually off limits, or highly restricted, when you are on a diet (did I just use too many commas in that sentence?). I get it too, I understand. Carbs aren't highly nutritious unles you count sugar as a vitamin, which its not. Sorry to break it to ya. I love it when I hear dieticians talk about how we need to eat a colorful diet. Cupcakes aren't colorful? Let me ask you, which one do you want to eat more?

This one:

Or this one:

I like veggies, I really do. Especially with the right sauce. I know veggies have a certain place in my life. I'm just addicted to all things carb. "Oh give me a home where the carbohydrates freely roam...." Am I skinnier yet?

Changed my mind

Did anyone see that?