Thanksgiving is better in Reno

Reno called and we answered! It was wild and it was fun. We headed out to visit our far away Reno cousins on a dark Tuesday morning before Thanksgiving. One of the favorite things the boys got to do was shooting. Uncle Brian gave everyone a Gun 101 class before leaving the house. They all had a great time!

 Big brothers and little brothers joined in for some friendly competition. You're never too old to try to best your brother, right?

 These big brothers bonded over a bike ride. It was super windy and chilly outside but that's nothing for Rasmussens. Bring it on, is their motto.

 Penryn is a must see whenever we drive up to Northern Cal. And if you're in Penryn then missing out on a sugar rush courtesy of the Fast Pak would be heartbreaking.

The highlight of the trip, I think, for Sadie was sledding day. This girl was all giggles the entire time. She got into a groove and never once wiped out. My stomach was in knots at the beginning, seeing her come down the steep mountainside. Those quickly abated after I saw how comfortable she was. 

 I have some beautiful and incredible sister in laws. I want to be like these two when I grow up.

 

Our boys weren't as lucky as Sadie was on sledding day. They wiped out a couple times and there were some tears shed. It didn't stop them completely, though. They eventually got back up and tried it again. Its a good thing pain wears off, right?

 

Steve was assigned the esteemed job of carving the Thanksgiving turkey. The Jedi power was with him. Our Reno Rasmussens truly fed us well on our trip. Denice showed us the power and ease of homemade French bread. The warmth of the holiday was shared with friends and family and I counted each of my blessings that day, they were bounteous and my heart overflowed. 

Earlier that morning we mommas gathered our children and headed out for a chilly 5K turkey trot put on by some of Denice's friends. We walked a nice loop around their beautiful neighborhood. I don't think my kids appreciated the pre-turkey ritual but I sure did. Eating a delicious meal always tastes better after I've abused my body a little bit in a workout. My casual walk with Anna was all the abuse my body could take but it felt good. I was really proud of my kids by the end of it too. Little do they know that I want to have them do this EVERY year.

  

 Our first day in Reno we went back in time on a visit to Virginia City. The wind was not our friend that day and Denice declared "this is what we call weather!" to us SoCal Rasmussens. We get very little of that thing called weather down here. Everyone's got smiles on their faces though. Weather does not dampen our spirits...too much.

 On our last night in Reno the adults ran away! Denice and Brian showed us how cool it is to have a babysitter in their own family but with the addition of the 50 million cousins (ok, 6 to their 5) she thought it a good idea to call in some back up with another sitter. The kids were left with dinner and a movie, we headed out on the town. Brian took us to one of the best Thai restaurants I've been too. It was deeeeeelish. I fattened my baby (and myself) up well...again. If only they had had the coconut rice with mango that would have secured them the number one spot in my book.

Thank you, Reno Rasmussens!! We loved every  minute.

November was full...

it came and went. The boys' school had their annual Carden Country Fair. I loaded the kids up with tickets and they hit the booths to have some fun. Ethan and classmate Aidan got in the ring and duked it out. Ethan won!!

Sadie was the bravest Rasmussen and buckled up for a high flying time on the jumbo trampoline. She giggled as she flew up and bounced. The operator turned her over - she wasn't quite as confident with that move. Her brothers watched in amazement and vowed to do it "next year."

 

She also decided she wanted to wear a crown and had one painted on. She's lovely, isn't she?

 

Steve and I voted. Unfortunately, we were pretty disappointed with the outcome. Sometimes it just seems futile to put in the effort, doesn't it? The cupcakes helped ease the pain of our loss. We hope the next four years with Mr. O President doesn't deplete our morale even more.

 Soccer! Futbol! Practice, practice, practice. That occupies quite a bit of our time in November. Two boys on separate teams and one girl with nothing to do but brush mom's hair.

 Luke's team were the Avengers and Ethan's team were the Zombie Warriors. This was our first year being exposed the real competition of soccer. Ethan and his team were old enough where goals count and rankings begin. Ethan's team made it to the first round of play offs. We had a fantastic coach, Ed, and the team really came together but they lost. It was a hard blow. Competition is ugly, I'm not such a fan.

 

 Sadie and I snuck off to Disneyland whenever we could. Girls just want to have fun! Its fun to experience the Happiest Place on Earth with my little girl, especially at Christmas time.

There were too many cravings and not enough will power to ignore them. I'm going to pay big time for this. Why is this fourth pregnancy the worst ever. I'm so tired. I'm so big. Its going so slowly. Doughnuts help...or something.

This boy warms my heart. He wanted to come with me to our Stake service project and even learned to crochet after getting bored tying dolls at my table. As soon as he saw the scouts making these hats he headed right over. He takes his scouting seriously.

I'm constantly thinking of the things I'm thankful for in November. My heart swells with gratitude.

Haaaaalloween!

 

Halloween! Its such a fun holiday to kick off the season of celebration that ends with New Year's Day. Our trick or treaters covered all the bases. We had superheros, Star Wars, a Ninja and a mermaid. The above picture is part of our gang: Eva (Wonder woman), Ethan (a Mandalorian - some Star Wars person), Sadie (mermaid - I think she was Ariel), Luke (Ninja), Ellie (A Captain America, girl version), and Amerie (Super girl).

We filled our bellies with warm chili and garlic cheese rolls just in time to hit the streets for candy! As soon as the buckets were full everyone headed home to inspect the loot.

And, of course, start devouring the sugary goodness!

Boo!

October in Pictures

The growing baby bump…it’s a girl!

Ethan’s creative writing at school.

A little after school dance party at the cousins house.

Raingutter Regatta for Ethan at Cub Scouts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luke does his Johnny Appleseed skit for the school assembly (2nd from left).

Can’t forget the ever important (but sometimes forgotten) lunch box notes.

General Conference was da bomb!! Candy bowls labeled with specific words we might hear during talks on the Sunday sessions. The kids loved it. I loved the cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

The annual Miramar Air show…

followed by camping trip. Anna and I had to miss out on the camping trip this year (wink, wink) because of newborn/pregnancy conflicts.

But we tried to enjoy ourselves with a little Phantom and restaurant deliciousness. It was a close second.

First Day of School 2012

About three weeks ago I sat down to my computer and spent roughly 45 minutes getting this post ready. I edited, uploaded, and edited some more. Finally, I felt the post was ready (as ready as it was going to be, anyway) and I published it…only to have it accidentally deleted within seconds!!! I looked at my computer in disgust and complete betrayal…even though it was my own fault. Ugh, I hate multi-tasking.

So here I am again. This time I will not do this post without Live Writer, where a back up will be automatically saved for me. I don’t make any promises to the extent of entertainment you might receive from this post anymore. My wit has dried up and I just need to get this event recorded for the good of my children’s futures…so I’m not a COMPLETE and UTTER disappointment to their journal contributions. Or maybe its so their future spouses won’t think I’m a total loser.

This year we kicked off “back to school” with a dinner the night before. I really loved this new event, even though I spent about 90 minutes in the kitchen on a hot day. I loved getting everyone excited for school with a special meal. Another example of how I like to celebrate special occasions with food, but that’s a topic for another post. I kept my lovely children busy making place cards on colored paper and cute stickers while I prepared our dinner menu of parmesan lemon tilapia, rice, black beans, caramelized green beans, cheese bread and everyone got a can of Guarana to wash it all down! Yum!!

The next day the boys were up and ready to go. We all loaded up in the van and drove the 25 minutes to school in anticipation of who would have which teacher. It had been a popular topic all summer, would Luke get Asay? would Ethan get Smallcomb? The suspense was killing us. When low and behold! They happily discovered all was right in the world and they had the teacher of their wishes. We couldn’t be happier! Honestly, no kidding.

I shed a few tears (what’s new?) as they were greeted at their classroom doors by their new teachers. They both look so much older and wiser already, don’t they? I just know its going to be another fantastic year at Carden.

After we drove home Sadie and I packed up and headed to Disneyland, just the two of us. One more year and this little toot will be in school full time too, we have got to live it up a little.

Just a few short weeks later, Sadie started preschool. She absolutely loves it! Honestly, I think this little girl would love it even MORE if her preschool were every day of the week. The first day of school I had butterflies of anxiety that she would act the same way her brothers did when they went to preschool (tears, tears and more tears!) but she gave me a kiss goodbye and walked right in without so much as a glance back to me. Of course, my eyes weren’t completely dry but then again, I am pregnant…haha. She has never had any hesitation going to school. Just the other day she got in the car after I picked her up and declared “I love school!” Let’s hope the love of school endures throughout the next 50 million years (I exaggerate a bit) she’ll be attending various classes.

Happy School year, kiddos!! You are smart, you are important, you are beautiful.

Luke turns Seven...Heaven!!

I haven't blogged in a while. Honestly, its pretty low on my list of things to do...and I feel bad about that. I feel like I've lost what little wit I had and everything I write is pretty dry but I need to get back to recording events and life. For my kids' sakes. I'll start with Luke. Just a few weeks ago, we celebrated Luke's 7th birthday with some wet n' wild fun at a Splash Pad in Westminster.

 

He invited a few friends (Derek, Jack Wetherholdt/Ryan, Audrey Willardson) and his cousins. Everyone ran around, or sat, and got nice and wet.

There was lots of male bonding too.

We hit up Costco for some yummy pizza, Luke's favorite and a cake, also Luke's choice. Don't worry, I offered to make him a cake or cupcakes. I offered to decorate it too. Luke was not going to budge. He wanted to choose his own cake from Costco and that was that. Honestly, I can't complain...less work for me.

One of his favorite gifts came in the mail and his face when he opened the box was priceless! He walks around the house with this big Spiderman Bibble (aka Beanie Ball). I kind of hate the thing but don't tell him I said that.

Luke is still a bundle of energy. He is the one in our family that makes friends the easiest. He is Mr. Popular in his class, which is cute right now for 3rd grade and was cute last year in 2nd but if it keeps up I'm going to be a stress case in his high school years. He says his favorite color is pink, don't ask me where that came from...maybe his cousin Jaxon's influence? He is such a smartie pants too, takes after his dad. We caught Luke "helping" Ethan with his math (mind you, Ethan is an entire grade older than Luke). When I reminded the boys that Luke doing Ethan's homework FOR him wasn't helping him they both felt a little sheepish. I had to laugh...inside. Happy Birthday, Lukers!! We absolutely LOOOOOOOVE you!

Camping at Caspers

Last weekend we headed out camping with the Johnsons, Willifords and a couple of our Oside cousins. It was a short, but sweet camping trip at Caspers.

The kids loved the playground we could walk to from our campsite. It was kind of a big deal for Sadie to keep her tennie shoes on the entire weekend. Phew! Glad we survived that one.

Two minutes after this picture Jake was on the ground crying. We laughed because we had someone crying almost every couple of minutes.

But Ethan overcame a fear of the fireman pole with the help of his dad. Steve got Ethan to commit to going down the pole if he went down first and ta da!!

We love cousins…

especially when we’re marching in formation

and putting on a little fire pit play.

The kids saw a rattlesnake when we first got there. yuck! So glad I wasn’t there! But even more glad no one came in CONTACT with one.

Hooray for camping!! We’re planning a couple more this summer but our boys wish we could just continuously camp all summer long. Little do they know their mom would NOT make it.