An Exceptional Year

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is reflect back on the previous 12 months and think of what has come about in our lives. There is no doubt that we were truly blessed in 2009. I am sure all you readers are rolling your eyes at my cheesy bragging, but when I use the term "blessed" I am referring to the good and bad. We had some downs this year, but the ups were triumphant and I relish that everything we experienced has shaped us even more into the people we want to be and people the Savior wants us to be.

No doubt our biggest blessing arrived earliest in the year. Nolan Matthew Rasmussen was born on January 11th, 2009 during a 70 degree winter weather spurt. His big blue eyes and giddy laugh and smile have brightened our home immensely and all of us have enjoyed watching his growth throughout the year.

My mom was here for a week after Nolan was born and I truly enjoyed just hanging out with my her, something that is rare and such a treasure. Oh how I hope that I am half the mother that she was to me!

We welcomed some more visitors in February, as Jenn, Rich, Nick and Lori spent Valentines Day weekend in San Francisco with us, meeting Nolan and playing with Reagan. We love having visitors and I am looking forward to my trip in two weeks that will take me out to New Mexico to meet Lori and Nick's newborn son, Noah.

What a beautiful spring it was, watching my two children bond. Reagan learned the art of being a big sister and Nolan watched her with big gazing eyes, memorizing her every move, I am sure.

Sweet Reagan grew up tons this year and outgrew her need for naps. A difficult change for me, I really enjoyed my "me time" in the afternoons, but I am also glad that her bedtime is earlier! Occasionally she will sneak in a nap for us, her best yet has been the Conference weekend snooze on the deck. Now I will admit there is something about a General Authority's voice that can put me to sleep, but this was an all-time winner.

We we're able to travel to Utah to see Lindsay and Jared sealed in the Bountiful Temple and we sure love when the entire family has the chance to get together like this. Such a rare occasion, with many of the Rasmussen's spread throughout a few states now.

While in Utah for the wedding, we also blessed Nolan and he was a good boy! We held a private blessing in the Rasmussen home with both families in attendance and enjoyed some food afterwards.

Reagan continued to grow up, along with no naps, she quickly outgrew her crib. Well, technically she is still in the crib, but we took down the rail and converted it to a big-girl bed. She was ecstatic about it!

My mom and sisters made their annual trip out here to see us in June. We visited the zoo, the temple, Waterworld, parks, Jelly Belly and our favorite outlet stores. We jammed in as much as we could and had a blast doing it.

Reagan turned 3 years old on June 22. We celebrated with a Mickey Mouse themed party at the park and she was the birthday girl through and through, complete with her very own tantrum during presents.










I think the summer of '09 will go down as one of our best yet. The reason being is an interesting one: Matt's company downsized at the end of April and we found ourselves unemployed during a recession. Not the most comfortable position, but you know Matt: he lived it up. We knew that all would work out and it sure did. We enjoyed four wonderful months with him home. We played at the parks, swam at Waterworld, went to the beach, hiked around mountain trails, explored museums, went grocery shopping, and just plain lived it up. At the end of August, Matt received a job offer here in Walnut Creek that has been an amazing transition for our family. To sum it up, funny as it sounds, what should have been our biggest downfall of 2009 turned out to be the greatest blessing.

One of our better investments was to get season passes to Waterworld. They have a great kid area and we also enjoyed the adult rides from time to time.

















She is still scared of the waterslides, but had a great time.

Just a couple of days after Matt received his new job offer, we took our first family vacation south of here to Monterey. I loved this 2 day excursion so much, I look forward to our family vacations in the future because of this one.

My dad turned 60 on Labor Day and that gave us another opportunity to head out to Utah to be with family. Like Lindsay and Jared's wedding in April, we got to have the entire Roundy family together this time. We stayed overnight at Red Moose Lodge in Eden Utah. Just about everything was perfect. Many good memories were made and I will treasure that time always.

We celebrated the holidays in style this year, with Reagan at the helm. She was ecstatic to dress up for Halloween, decorate a tree for Christmas and anxiously await for Santa, all while being a "good girl." Little brother even sensed some of the excitement as he watched big sis.

Happy New Year!