Eight

 his birthday breakfast request? Cocoa puffs and hashbrowns.

 

Somebody pin me back down because I am floating high. Today has been a day to be remembered. Ethan celebrated his eighth birthday and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father went down into the waters of baptism with him. He was encircled by valiant men and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost. Two of his aunts gave wonderful talks on baptism. I loved seeing Evelyn's picture from way long ago when she was baptized. And Mae's analogy of the gift of the Holy Ghost was right on. I couldn't have asked for a better day for my sweet Ethan. So many friends, his second grade teacher, and our ever faithful family members thronged the pews of the church to show Ethan their support (and it REALLY meant a LOT to me too). I wanted to look at each individual present with us today and really tell them how MUCH it meant to me that they were there. Every time I saw Katie cutting up desserts or Brittany serving up water I wanted to hug them. I have some of the best friends and family a girl could ask for. I know there were many more family members, especially Grandma and Grandpa currently serving their mission in Sweden, that wanted to be there too and we thought of all of you crazy Rasmussens! :)

I can't imagine a better course for my boy to be on. I know this is the first of many steps. I know the way might get a bit dark at times. I know that life ahead will not always be as rosy as it was today. If he can remember the feeling of today then I know he can get through any rough patches ahead. I could see how special he felt in his eyes. 

And now for the birthday recap...

Picking out his own gifts (from his parents and the Willifords) at the Lego Store...this boy's heaven!

 

Bowling party with some good friends!

 

It was a week long birthday extravaganza! My dad even took Ethan and Luke to the Discovery Science Center's exhibit for Star Wars on Tuesday and they had a blast. Happy Birthday, Ethan! We love you google plex!

Conference and Other Shenanigans

Conference weekend is always highly anticipated in our house. The kids get a kick out of not having to get dressed up in their Sunday best and Steve and I do our best to hear and internalize every word said. This April's conference was especially fun because Anna, her boys and Ruger came to enjoy it with us. We ALWAYS love having them in our home and everyone (ok, maybe not Sadie and Steve so much) became a big fan of Ruger's. We tried to entertain the kids with a Conference Bingo game and some peanut M&M's but it was better in theory, honestly. At least we tried. Now I'm glad to have my Conference issue of the Ensign in hand so I can read the talks.

Sadie thought these bubbles at school were pretty nifty. I couldn't believe how well the bubble liquid actually held up. And I read NieNie's book, Heaven Is Here. I enjoyed the book. Her endurance through the struggle of recovering from the plane accident she was in is remarkable. I wondered how well I would fight to regain my own life if it were me. And I always love a book with a good ending.

Strawberry Picking At Tanaka

Sadie and I had a fun field trip to Tanaka Farms last Thursday for our preschool class. We picked strawberries to our hearts content and road a bus! We love that our cousins are in our class too.

the list is back! Seven Favorites

1. I've renewed my love of Los Angeles. I've been twice in the last month with friends and our family has gone to LA to do activities too. I've lived here nearly all my life and hardly went to LA. I still have never been to the Hollywood sign. So after going to LA for my birthday and then going back with Jessica and Bonnie a couple weeks ago their excitement reminded me of how much I'm taking for granted. There is lots to do around here and I have little reason to "get bored" with my surroundings. Just last week my sisters and I took our kids (those that weren't at school) to the beach and it was a beautiful day. I sent Steve a text telling him that days like those make me wonder why I want to leave California so bad.

 On the Friends set with Jessica and Bonnie

At the park by Balboa Pier

2. I'm such a fan of seeing my kids learn and grow. Lately, Sadie pretends to read and practices "writing." I got to go see Ethan and the rest of the second graders do an assembly in front of the entire school on Determination, which brought tears to my eyes (I know, I'm that kind of mom) and reminded me that I really need to be better at implementing that quality in my life. Sadie asked to go to dance class and was stellar about it. Ethan asked to do a science project and we made soap crystals. My kids minds are constantly on the go and I struggle keeping up but I love watching them appreciate something for the first time and enjoying it over and over. I hope they always have a love of knowledge and appreciate the experiences in life that make them grow.

3. Love emails from husbands. A week ago Steve asked me what he could do for me and I told him I'd love a love letter. Later that day I was checking my email and saw one from him. He rarely "bears his soul" so reading the email gave me goosies (and, of course, brought tears to my eyes). He's a keeper...especially when he writes me sappy emails. I'll spare you all the screen shot though.

4. I'm a fan of finding random pictures on my phone that my dear daughter takes. It always cracks me up to see what she has captured and I feel like I get a tiny look into what the world looks like to her right now.

 Self portrait, looks like she's on my bed.

 Costco trip!

 Another self-portrait on my bed...silly girl.

I remember her telling me to say cheese just as I went to drink my breakfast.

6. I am a fan of seeing my kids enjoy each others company. My heart is so happy when they play nicely together, make each other laugh, help each other out and just aren't bossing or being mean. When I see these moments take place I try to just stand there and take it in because I know that sometimes the moment is over as quickly as it began. 

7. Last but not least, goofy faces after Sacrament meeting are a favorite of mine. Especially from this little goofball.

February list Instagram Style

February was a good month and one of my new favorite past times, Instagram, was how I captured the great moments that made up February for our Rasmussen household.

1. A GNO with one of my dearest friends started off great in such an inspiring parking lot. Each stall has a meaningful message.

     

 2.The best part of the chinese meal we ate on Valentine's Day (Pick Up Stix really let us down this year! why can I not find good Chinese take out in Orange County?) was this fortune from my cookie. Easier said than done but true none the less.

  

3. Cousins can really bring the best out in us. When Sadie's cousin Zane is at class with her she is much more outgoing.

      

4. Sleep is a true waste of time when other cousins are spending the night and they brought a fun game to play! We had Adam, Jake and Evan over for a sleepover so that Anna and Allen could get some one on one time before he leaves for deployment. It was a lot of fun! Sadie loves her cousin Evan but I'm not sure how long Evan will play along. We're so excited that Al and Anna are expecting another baby!

5. Having a little fun with how much I want to be skinny.

 6. Sadie loves to ride her bike she got for Christmas but I think its too small for her already! Darn kids grow too fast.

 

7. About once a month Ethan brings home a book he is asked to do a little report on. There are questions he has to answer. When he gets like this I just see Steve. He is totally his dad.

 

and Sadie likes to interject and make sure she gets some attention when I'm sitting down with Ethan.

 

8. Every once in a while the stars align just right and I get the chance to go for a run, by myself, by the ocean. You'd think I'd be able to do this more often but life just doesn't work out that way, as much as I'd like it to. This time I had to snap a picture of beach I was running at. It was glorious and I felt so lucky in that moment. The icing on the cake was that I found my first ever whole sand dollar! 

9. Silly faces at lunch time. Love them!

10. A trip to the temple and a tasty lunch. I find so much peace at the temple and I'm one of the lucky ones to have a temple just 10 minutes away. Again, like running at the beach, I wish the stars would align more often so I could spend more time there but that is just not the phase of life I'm in. My favorite lunch these days is my favorite wheat bread (alpine valley) with avocado, tomato and some salt. Yum.

11.  Cupcakes and pictures. I had the opportunity to bake some cupcakes for some actual paying customers! Ok, they were friends but it still counts right? And the boys made some pretty cool drawings at church one Sunday. Of course, Ethan's is all military and Luke's is Harry Potter. I love these boys and their drawings. Please, someone slow down the time.

 12. Silly dads and a beach day. I know its February but we live in Southern California and sometimes we just get to go to the beach. The ocean is FREEZING but does that stop my boys? Um, not one bit. Sadie won't touch the water with a ten foot pole, she's terrified, but she loves playing in the sand. And she loves wearing her swimsuit. She dances around the house in that thing and I have to convince her to put some clothes on top of it when we have to leave the house.

13. February is mostly wrapped up by the time my birthday rolls around. This year it fell on a Saturday so we packed everyone up in the car and headed to Los Angeles to the California Science Center. It was spectacular and we didn't even get through half of it. We watched an IMAX movie "Born to be Wild" that left me wanting to go take care of cute little elephants in the Serengeti. After they kicked us out at closing time we headed to the best place to get Brazilian food, when you're not in Brazil...Cafe Brasil! Mmmm...it was delicious and tasted just like the real thing. And just like being in Brasil, I was absolutely stuffed.

14. Ok, well, to wrap up February Sadie and I went to Disneyland and I couldn't believe it when she asked to wait in line to see Rapunzel. Even after waiting in line for 30 minutes she still wanted to wait. She was so excited but I don't know why I was surprised when she completely clammed up as soon as we were in Rapunzel's presence. I just love my little princess and that I'm completely ok with calling her my princess.