White Christmas

It was a snowy Christmas, as those of you who were in Utah already know. It was fun. Matt and I haven't had snow on Christmas since 2003, when we were pretty much snowed in. Grandma Rasmussen had a Princess Party for the granddaughters and Reagan so willingly came as Snow White. Also in attendance were Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
Lindsey put together a Christmas Eve program at the Roundy home. Grandpa read the 12 Days of Christmas, Loren ready the Nativity by the light of his headlamp and the grandkids acted it out. We tried to sing carols and it was just pure madness.

************Thanks Katey for this AWESOME photo of Reagan**********************
Matt's best $3.00 investment ever: Enjoy California t-shirts. One of the great perks of living in San Fran is the nice deals found on Fishermans Wharf.

Sledding on Christmas Day at Burton Elementary.
They built a jump, but I don't think it quite worked out how they wanted it. Christmas Day was beautiful. It snowed all Christmas Eve and there wasn't a cloud in the sky on Christmas Day.

Celebrating a Half Decade

"If I had a chance for another try, I wouldn't change a thing.

It's made me all of who I am inside."

Matt and I celebrated our usually-overlooked (in lieu of Christmas) anniversary on the 28th of December. We left Regs with family and stayed overnight in Salt Lake at the Armstrong Mansion, a bed and breakfast. We splurged on dinner at Flemings and I had the most mouth-watering filet mignon ever. I really don't eat a whole lot of steak, so I may be a bad judge of that, but I also happen to be a little picky eater, so when I almost licked my plate clean, I knew it must have been a good steak.
Also, I knew this must be a good steak restaurant because the server moved the bottle of A1 sauce prior to snapping the photo.

Its been a great 5 years. Couldn't have asked for someone better! :):)

I am so blessed

I seriously don't know what I did to deserve it, but I have been blessed with the most amazing family ever. I had a great upbringing and my parents and brothers and sisters are the best. Then I married into the most awesome family ever and my blessings literally doubled. I couldn't imagine being married to a better person than Matt, who is my best friend and so much more. Then I have this amazing little 32.5 pound bundle of energy who stole my heart 18 months ago.

(She really is 32.5 lbs...we weighed her at the airport where they weigh baggage.)

We spent 10 days just being with our families. Such a treat for us when we live 12 hours away from everyone and even farther from our family in Cleveland.

Reagan had such a blast with her cousins. They were so sweet with her.
Jeff and Paselly were married on the 27th and braved the cold. I didn't feel too bad for them because those lucky ducks headed out that night for the toasty Bahamas. Reagan looked so adorable in her dress.

My mom My sistas

Cousin-time!

Radical

A truly radical Christmas was had by the Rasmussen family.

The two raddest toys ever. The sit-n-spin at Grandma Roundy's and the play kitchen at Grandma Rasmussen's. How would you like your eggs? Scrambled or over-easy?
Raddest diaper. Anyone need a good plumber?
Raddest facial expression.
Raddest New Years pic of a "Jazzed" and "Rock-Starred" Matt and Lindsay.Raddest tree topper ever.

Raddest gingerbread house. This was done Cabela's-style, complete with a triscuit roof, slim jim chimney, and banana chip molding. You know your a redneck if...
Raddest New Years Eve activity: noodle hockey. Thanks, Mel.
Raddest outfit coordination. Caitlin and I wore the exact same outfit on Christmas Eve, right down to the brands and color of socks.
Raddest Nativity-reader. Dad Roundy insisted on turning out the lights, so Loren was left to improvise. I was vaguely reminded of my spelunking, nutty-putty cave days.

Happy New Year!

Rasmussen's Favorite Things 2007

I was too busy to catch Oprah's Favorite Things episode this year because I was thinking of our family favorite things in the last 12 months. Its been a great year, filled with many ups and downs, but the ups sure outshine the downs. We are pretty blessed. We love our family and friends. We love where we live. In no particular order, here are some of our favorite things of this past year. Love to you all!

1. Moose Tracks Ice Cream. Matt is more of an ice cream fan than I am, but if I have this one in front of me, there is no doubt I will partake. Safeway makes an incredibly delish kind which is also easy on the wallet.

2. Angels and Airwaves. We are music junkies and especially hold a dear place in our hearts for all that is alternative. We love this band. We just bought their latest cd and Matt hasn't stopped listening to it since. It was actually going to be in his stocking this year, but he wanted it early.

3. Asics and Saucony running shoes. Mom Ras got me some Asics running shoes last year and I have loved every step that I have taken in them. They are the best running shoes I have ever owned. I have put some miles on them this year...maybe not as many as I would have liked, but they still got good use. For Fathers Day I bought Matt some Saucony shoes, mostly cause they were on sale, but he has loved them as well. Those of you who know Matt know that he isn't a big runner, but he has definitely put some time on the treadmill this past year.

4. Arrested Development. You guys know our hearts are with The Office, but while I was in New Mexico with Lori and Nick, we watched a marathon of this show on tv and I laughed so hard. It is incredibly funny and SMART comedy. Truly original. I wish it was still on air. Its not, so for some laughs rent the 3 seasons.

5. Johnsons Shea Butter Baby Wash. Love this stuff. Smells yummy and makes me sniff Reagan over and over after her bath.

6. Allegra-D. Matt has allergies and this is the ONLY stuff that works for him.

7. Britax Marathon car seat. We hummed and hawed over this one. It was an expensive car seat and there are plenty of decent car seats out there that are half the price. But in the end, we fell in love with this one and bought it before a road trip last month. It has been worth it. Reagan is much nicer in the car and falls asleep often because of its comfort factor.

8. Steak Burrito Ultimo from Baja Fresh. Matt treats himself to this one since there is a Baja Fresh close to work.

9. Claim Jumpers Glazed Walnut and Asian Pear salad. This is my favorite. Chili's has slid down on my favorite restaurants list and been replaced by Claim Jumper, mostly due to this dish. The funny thing is none of these items in the salad are things I particularly like, but thrown together, with the dressing they have, its mouthwatering. Matt digs the Bleu Cheese Wedge salad from there.

10. American Crew hair gel. This stuff works, let me tell you. Matt loves it and once I had to use some because I was scrunching my hair and out of any hair product for me. My hair didn't move an inch all day. It was completely stuck where I had styled it.

11. Daisy by Marc Jacobs. This perfume smells really good.

12. TJ Maxx. I bought lots of stuff here over the last year. In fact, I can pretty much find almost anything here, if at the right time. I love their clothes and toys for Reagan. I bought some shirts there. They even have nice houseware stuff. Plus, it is right down the street from our place.

Corporate Booty

Nondenominational Winter Holiday Party 07

Highlights -

• Having a date this year (a hot one at that)
• Continuing my raffle winning streak
• The amazing view from the 52nd floor of the Bank of America building
• 1.5 great steaks
• Chocolate shakes at Union Square with the Sebras
• The shooting at Union Square

Chillin with the accountants

The photographer

On top of the city

Union Square

The shooting

Such a good mommy...

Reagan is learning all the skills she needs to be a good mommy. She received a dolly and stroller from Grandma Rasmussen for Christmas (early) and has been cuddling and caring for the little babe since day 1. Everything else takes a backseat to her 'baby.'

She knows that baby needs her binky. Oh yes, Reagan knows ALL about that.
Each night, I read Reagan and book and sit in the chair with her. Matt and I were so TICKLED when one night Reagan did it with her baby. It was the cutest thing. She grabbed a book, her baby, and was asking for 'up' in the chair.

By the way, Reagan loves the book in the picture. The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. I highly recommend it.
Of course, baby needs her fresh air, despite dipping down into freezing California temperatures...like low 60's and stuff. So we bundle up and head outdoors where Reagan makes sure that baby is sitting properly in her seat (LOL) and that she gets plenty of sips of water.
Honestly, I have seen a cuddly, motherly side come out of Reagan since the birth of her baby. It is really exciting to watch her. She gives the baby kisses and gives Matt and I kisses now.

So now I ask the question: does Reagan resemble me (LACY) at all in these photos? To anyone who may be reading our blog, I want your opinion. Be honest!

Household Record

Reagan slept in until almost 8am this morning!! HOLY COW!! That has never happened in the history of the last eighteen months. At her toddler class this morning, I was ecstatic and everyone told me it was probably a growth spurt, especially if she was eating more than normal. The eating thing will never be a clue, since she eats almost as much as Matt and I combined, but she has been growing a ton, so I guess it fits.

Thanksgiving in Utah

We celebrated Thanskgiving in Utah this year. While in San Diego, Matt's grandfather passed away, so instead of driving home to NorCal, we instead took a detour to Utah and spent the rest of the holiday weekend there. In spite of the circumstances, it was great to see our families. We haven't spent a Thanksgiving with family in four years, so this was fun. Reagan was a delight on the 11 hour trip straight through to Utah and I drove with a lead foot, which truly is unusual for me, so we made it unscathed. The temperatures were COLD...not what I am used to anymore I guess. We were a little unprepared, with 4 days worth of clothing that consisted of jeans, shirts, and maybe a light jacket here or there.

Highlights of our feast include some delicious sweet potatoes that Lori made. And of course, the traditional spinach salad. The turkey was awesome, too and for the first time ever, I had cranberry sauce with it and it was really good!
The next day we had another feast at the Roundy household and the highlight of that was my dad's deep fried turkey. If you have never tried deep fried turkey, you are missing out.
Reagan's new dress. 9 bucks at Jc Penney, I am not kidding. I love this dress. I love her smile even more. Matt and Jeff's 'prom picture.' I don't know why they look pale in this photo.
I have been to Utah three times in the last three months and in three weeks, it will be my fourth time. In September, it was a huge reunion, October was like, "cool, your here again," and this time it was like, "oh...hey guys." I am sure for Christmas it will be like, "did you guys move back or something?" Too funny!

Photo shoot at La Jolla Cove

What better place to have your picture taken than the beach? Heck yeah, baby. Many other people had the same idea. Jenn was wonderful and took some photos of our family. There are these tiny tidepools with these scary white fish that are about the size of my fingernail. I HATE fish! Jenn was laughing because I would not step in the tidepools to enter further into the cove. Heck no, man.

Oh how Reagan loves to water. In a couple of years, she will be laughing right along with her dad at how I hate fish and other sea creatures. We could not keep her out of the freezing water and we ended up pulling her wet clothing off her and draping a blanket over on the way home.
I just want to add that my fear of fish is mostly limited to ugly fish. When Matt and I snorkeled in Hawaii, after about an hour of coaxing me into the water, I realized it wasn't TOO bad because these were pretty tropical fish. They look nice. The ugly fish, like the ones that my dad fishes out of the Weber River, are so dang ugly and scary looking. They just have this EVIL look in their eyes like they want to nibble your toes right off.