Far and away in Los Angeles

(me the day we walked around Hollywood)

My sisters and I recently went on a mini getaway to L.A. We had a blast but none of us really wanted to act like tourists and take tons of pictures (and the websites don't allow copying) so this post will be aesthetically boring, sorry. We stayed in the beautiful Fairmont Miramar hotels. We ate delicious food. My favorites were Cafe Brasil, of course, and Joan's on Third, and the Grand Lux Cafe. Joan's was DELICIOUS and the first place we had never been to before. Its also where we got a glimpse at our first celebrity sightings. This is who we saw...

Alexandra Guarnaschelli from the Food Network

Cameron Diaz

We did lots of shopping at the Grove. We watched two movies, 'Julie and Julia' and 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' Unfortuneately, the tourist sites of Mann's Chinese theater and the star walk were kind of anti-climatic. All in all it was a fun trip. I definitely appreciated the time away and came home renewed in my purpose as a mother and wife. It was the first time I had been away from Sadie and that about did me in. I wanted to come home and smother her (and everyone else too) with hugs and kisses. Thank you Evelyn and Steve for making it all happen!

Flashback eight years

Grow old along with me

The best is yet to be

When our time has come

We will be as one

God bless our love

God bless our love

Grow old along with me

Two branches of one tree

Face the setting sun

When the day is done

God bless our love

God bless our love

Spending our lives together

Man and wife together

World without end

World without end

Grow old along with me

Whatever fate decrees

We will see it through

For our love is true

God bless our love

God bless our love

(song by John Lennon)

Cowboy took me away

I should be on my elliptical machine working up a sweat right now but I'm going to tell you about my weekend instead. Well, the interesting parts anyway. Steve surprised me Friday morning. "These are the plans" he said. My witty reply followed, "what plans?" He told me he had arranged for an overnite trip to Solvang and we were leaving that afternoon. I don't think he had planned on being sick with the common Rasmussen head cold that attacts his eyes and makes him look like this. But sick he was and here we go! Three hours later and too much traffic we arrived in Solvang, did you know we were famous? That's right. Famous enough to have an entire store named after us. I found this cute little toy store that had some groovy sunglasses. Very me, if I do say so myself.

Solvang is basically german for stuff-yourself-silly-with-pastries (just kidding) and thats what we did. We ate some abelskivers for breakfast and then bought one of these for second breakfast. I ate most of it and managed to pause momentarily to capture the last few bites for you. Then I proceeded to the next bakery for a homemade soft pretzel. I couldn't stop myself long to take a picture.

This is the restaurant we ate at on Friday night. It seemed like a happenin' little place and it was Italian food, what can go wrong right? Wrong. Steve and I were not impressed. And it was expensive too, so not worth it.

Before Steve got too sick to head back to the hotel we walked around and stopped inside a cute little bookstore. I didn't think I was that much of a bookworm but sometimes I walk inside bookstores and I just love the smell of books. Thats what happened here. I walked in and caught a wiff of comfort...books. I just wanted to grab one, a blanky and plop on the couch for the rest of the day.

I found the perfect book for Steve. He loves Ender. He's read all about 'im. I think he would have wanted to name one of our children Ender but that's not how I roll (haha...). I showed it to him and he just said he would check it out of the library. That's my Stevo, so practical. Now it was time for a potty break. I walk into the loo and upon inspection I found this. Blehck. Seriously. Who leaves these things for plain view to all the customers? Nasty. Maybe this is what small town is all about? They don't mind the nasties out for display because then at least you know they are cleaning the stalls right? So we don't end of that nasty note here is the final picture. While everyone around me was taking pictures of the town windmills and danish artifacts I decided I would prefer to capture this clock for all to see. It kind of reminds me of teletubbies, do you see it? I have to say, though, its much cooler.

Thanks, hubs, for the weekend getaway! You rock for planning and executing. Now we can check Solvang off the list.

What keeps us busy

Shopping for cute clothes. I love these shirts from Threadless. They our so unique and witty in their designs. This one is called "wishless."

This one is called "defend the kingdom."

More cake baking...or caking...ha. I thought this cake turned out pretty darn good but who am I to judge?

I was also happy with these cookies I made for a baby shower. The baby's name was starting with an "S," just so you know. The cookies took MUCH longer than I thought they would but they were cute!

Luke has discovered the wonderful world of iphones. Unfortunately there is only one iphone in our household and its mine. I made the mistake of putting a car game on my phone and Luke has become addicted to it. Steve likes it too so I guess it is a good game but Luke is the most common offender. Hmmm....is four too young to have an iphone? Kidding, TOTALLY kidding.

I recycle. Sometimes I wonder why I recycle. I mean, I know its good for the earth..yadda yadda but Costa Mesa automatically sorts through our trash to pull recyclables so why do I add more to my already long to do list? I don't know. Its amazing how fast it piles up. I kind of don't trust how much the city recycles so I take control....wow, what does that say about me? Control freak. I also like that I rarely have a completely full trash bin to put out on trash day.

Sadie isn't so sure about the pool. She loves her baths but this whole pool thing hasn't quite tickled her fancy. She looks happy in this photo but don't be fooled, her dad is infront of her keeping her happy. That's exactly what she needs, someone to cling to. She won't let us go when we are in the pool.

I found a dead bird in our house. I found this dead bird roughly three weeks or so AFTER finding the mysterious bird poop in our kitchen after coming home from our mini Rasmussen Reunion in Mesquite, NV. Thankgoodness for the ant trail that I had to investigate that led me to it. Ugh. Of course, Steve was at work so I had to do the dirty work. Why? Why? Why does all the NASTY stuffy happen when Steve is at work?

Nine Months

She's almost 10 months old so I better get on with doing this posting before its too late. She has had an exciting month. She has sprouted two more teeth but still isn't getting off her belly to crawl. Here she is eating one of her favorite foods: peaches. This innocent peach was just sitting on the table minding its own business when Sadie grasped it and the rest is history. She ate the whole thing, even screamed at me when I took it away to remove the pit.

Sadie has a pretty good time in her walker. She loves to open the drawers and cabinets, pull things down from the counter or the table (like the bag of cereal that is on the floor), and just cause general havoc. We went to the beach around the beginning of the month and she decided to taste her first mouthful of sand. Mmmm....delicious....blehck. I honestly don't know what the fascination is with kids this age and how they love to put sand in their mouths. I guess its a sensory thing.

Want some sand?

Sand is so fun to clean off. I just looooove it. I'm not being sarcastic, really. Sadie, you are too cute. Even if I had to bring home the entire beach in your diaper. xoxo

I'm horrible

Part of Luke's prayer tonight went like this: "please help mommy not to be so angry so she won't make me sad."

sigh

Just FYI I was grumpy. Why is it that every time (ok, I'm exaggerating a little but probably like 70% of the time) he comes home from being with my mom he is G-R-U-M-P-Y. Its like its painful to come home. I know grandmas are great and all but come on, I'm not so bad either.... at least I think so. So why do I continue to let him hang out with g'ma if this happens so much? I'm nice. He loves it so much I feel bad "depriving" him of it just because I don't want to deal with the 'tude when he gets home.

I apologized to him after we said our amens. Poor kid has me for a mom. Sorry, Lukester. I love you.

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.