Crocs, Parks, and the Zoo

Here is sweet Reagan on Valentines morning. She is such a different baby than she was a year ago. In fact, she isn't even a baby anymore! She is a toddler to me, even though she won't be 2 for a few more months. Dad brought home some chocolate for Reagan and let her have at it on V-Day.
Showing off her new crocs. These are pretty big on her, she will need to grow into them, but the plus side is that she can put them on all by herself! And they fit nicely over her feeted pajamas.
Beautiful weather last week. Not so much this week. Here is Regs at the park. She loves the bridge in the background. And she can now officially go down the slide. The swings are still her favorite, especially if there is another child swinging next to her.
Reagan's valentine from G-pa and G-ma Rasmussen! She grabbed it right out of my hands. Thanks so much for it! And thank you to her awesome cousins who also sent her valentines!
A warm day at the Oakland Zoo (not to be confused with the now infamous San Francisco Zoo). Eating lunch with Addie!

Great play area here for the little ones. Thanks to the Berrett's for letting us enjoy the zoo experience!

I hate snakes!

Tonight I was giving Reagan a bath and she let out a little toot. It bubbled, she looked up at me and giggled then said "I poop." Thankfully, she really didn't poop, but it was so funny the way she said it. I talk to her a lot throughout the day like I have been told to do and so it is nice to see her beginning to understand this language we call English. She is reciting her body parts, singing songs, and the poop thing tonight just blew me away!

LOVE

Happy Valentines Day!

This is a holiday I did not enjoy until I got married. In fact, before that I actually kind of boycotted it. Here are two fun stories about Valentines days in the past:

*When I was in college, I felt real bad because I did not have a Valentine and at the time, most of my roommates did. So I called up my dad and bawled to him about it. The next day, he sent me some flowers.

*I met Matt in September/October of 2001 and we went on a few dates. Then he never called me again, despite my persistent and slightly embarassing flirting. So I put his face on the backburner of my mind and moved on. He called me up and asked me out again the following February, around the time of the SLC Olympics. We went out, started dating and the rest is history. I received a Valentine that year, just days after our dating resumed. It was some candy hearts wrapped in red tissue paper and signed "Fred." I do not know a Fred. I also did not know who my secret Valentine was. Three months later, Matt was helping me pack up and move out of my apartment when we uncovered the candy hearts. He confessed that he was "Fred" and his sister Melanie had doorbell ditched me with them. I also confessed that I do not like chewy candies and Fred has not bought those for me since.

This is what my munchkin looked like a year ago, on Valentines Day 2007.

Too lazy right now to upload photos, so expect a 2008 photo in the next few days.

Here are a few reasons why this was a good Valentines Day for me:

*I did my step aerobics without the interruption of Reagan crawling under my feet and trying to stand on the step.

*A delicious lunch of suckers and frosted sugar cookies at the Oleole's.

*Husband arriving home earlier than normal with two boquets of flowers (tulips and white daisies), velour clothing, and lime green Crocs for Reagan.

*Continuing the tradition of take-out dinner.

*Finding out that the next new episode of The Office will air on April 10th and is titled 'Dinner Party.' There will be 6 more episodes this season.

*Going running tomorrow morning, rain or shine. I consumed more calories today than probably the rest of the week combined. Also, the sugar is going bye-bye in our home. I have been a sugar addict since Christmas and it has NOT been a good thing.

LOVE YOU ALL!

YES!!!!!

Most of you have probably caught wind that the strike is coming to an end and that negotiations are being made with the writers and big execs. This week will probably determine all the details. But, here is the best news: if the strike does officially end, the producer of The Office wants to get 6 more episodes in before the end of the season! That is great news. Just as I felt myself cliff-hanging over Pam and Jim last year, this year I am feeling a little cliffhanger from Michael and Jan. Plus...the real-life Angela (who plays Angela on the show)...is pregnant...in real life. She isn't due until May. Soooo...how do they write that in the show? Or do they try and hide it. The writers have always tried to keep it light and not too much drama (this isn't Days of Our Lives, people) and so I highly doubt that they will have Angela pregnant, that would be took much of a scandal. But, you never know...

And to those of you who are LOST fans and there clearly are many, I am proud to say that Matt and I have been tuning in for the last couple of weeks. And, no pun intended, but I truly am lost. I guess I need to go back and watch the previous seasons because I have no idea what is going on. But it sure does look good. They did, however, switch the night to Thursdays, which is my Office night, so maybe it wouldn't do me any good anyways to get into it.

Sweet Super Bowl Sunday

And what a sweet game it was. I missed the last few minutes due to a church engagement, but I didn't mind as I walked in the door to see my husband pacing the living rooms, all smiles. Here are a few things that made me smile that day:

Matt's cool football tie. This was half his Christmas gift from me (the other half was another tie). He actually returned the original one to buy this. No worries, I am stoked he kept the first one!
Sunday is sweets day in our household. We hope that the dosing of dessert keeps our sugar cravings at bay for the following week. It usually doesn't work. Oh well, we have sincerely enjoyed these rolls for the last two weeks. Thanks to Amy for getting us hooked on them over Christmas.

Are you curious?

Watch out drivers in California. The road has a new citizen and she puts Provo drivers to shame. Reagan's fascination with clothing items she will not wear for years continues on. This week it was the sports bra.
Seriously, is this not Matt's child?

We had a rough week actually. And it is only Thursday. She really did not want to let me out of her sight, even if it was to go to the bathroom. That made things difficult. Things kind of hit rock bottom (or hit the fan, what have you) this evening when I locked myself in my room so that I could get a break and regain my composure. She cried out in the hallway kicking my door for a while, but eventually went and found her baby and starting playing with it. I am going to bed early tonight and saying long prayers and tomorrow is a new day and I will be more patient.

Who wants to see a movie about a girl that gets pregnant in high school?

What to do for date night is always a tricky question; should we go sky diving again, surfing, bungee jump the golden gate bridge, or ski some more double black diamonds? When Lacy mentioned there was a movie about a girl that gets pregnant in high school it sounded too risky. But after checking the reviews at rottentomatoes.com we decided to take the plunge. It turned out to be one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. The movie has crude humor throughout but I’ve always been able to appreciate that sort of thing. A great plot and some of the best lines I’ve heard in quite a while make it a great movie. Every appendage up for the movie Juno. Some great lines from the movie are found below.

Juno MacGuff: I think I'm, like, in love with you.
Paulie Bleeker: You mean as friends?
Juno MacGuff: No, I mean, like, for real. 'Cause you're, like, the coolest person I've ever met, and you don't even have to try, you know...
Paulie Bleeker: I try really hard, actually

Mac MacGuff: In my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person will still think the sun shines out your ass. That's the kind of person that's worth sticking with.

Die-Hard

This is for all those die-hard Office fans out there. Did you watch the re-run last night? If you didn't, it was probably one of two (or both) reasons:

A. You were one of the many millions parked in front of LOST

B. You simply aren't an Office fan (i.e. Kelly and Loren, etc.)

Well, if you are a die-hard fan who still lives for re-runs, then you got a special treat last night. There was a new cold open and a new tag at the end. As a re-cap, this was the sitch: the cold open featured Toby walking into the office with his girlfriend and then proceeding to make out with her right in front of Pam's desk...all while Pam and Jim watched in horror. The tag at the end was Ryan trying to convince Jim that New York was so much better than Scranton. It doesn't sound like much, but when we haven't had any new material for a few months now and you have been going through withdrawals like I am, it sure felt like Christmas morning all over again.

January Re-Cap

Only 78 more days left of tax season!



This is what we have been doing this month. Reagan has pushed her baby around in the shopping cart, holding her purse.

She unrolled the toilet paper while I was showering. When I got out of the shower, she was just staring at the mess.
She loves to put on my shoes and go stomp on the treadmill...

...and listen to the MP3 player.The couple of days that the weather was decent, we went to the dog park...my favorite. Reagan watched the dogs and they loved to watch her. We ate bananas and ran into another girl Reg's age who let us watch her feed the ducks. The good weather only lasted that day, but it was beautiful.
Reagan learns to eat yogurt. We also have been giving her other things that she can spoon feed herself, like cereal and soup. It makes a royal mess and she hasn't quite grasped the concept yet. One day, I took some of the yogurt out of the narrow container for her and put it on a plate so that she could spoon it in easier. She scooped up the yogurt and tried to put it back in the container! It was funny.Oh, how I love this look! I am in love with my little Reagan. She drives me nuts all the time and we butt heads, but she is my little star.

Ramblings

The rain persists and Reagan is sleeping. I thought I would post some of my thoughts.

1. I am bummed that the Chargers lost. I would have LOVED to see them make it to the Super Bowl and I would have loved even more seeing them end the Patriots winning streak (sorry New Englanders). It has been a long time since I have rooted for a specific team in the SB, so it would have been nice this year to put some meaning into the big game.

2. This one might be TMI for some, but it was too funny not to share. Yesterday Reagan wandered in while I was on the toilet. She assessed the situation, grabbed a fistful of toilet paper, and handed it to me. It was so nonchalant and funny. I also caught her trying to put shampoo on her baby's head and this morning she went to throw something away for me and after she didn't return from the kitchen, I knew I needed to check up. Sure enough, she had grabbed a bunch of cracked egg shells from the trash and crunched them up in her hands. YUMMY! Reagan is a very "see-do" baby. What she sees us or someone else do, she wants to do. If I am dipping my chicken in bbq sauce, she needs to have some bbq sauce on her plate to dip as well. If I am done running on the treadmill, she will go get my shoes and MP3 player and go stomp on the treadmill. I actually caught a picture of this that I will post in the near future. And she loves more than anything to get up on the chair and play with the computer mouse and the keyboard. I know that this isn't the best one, but we still let her. Today I let her do it and ended up needing to close over 100 windows that she opened.

3. American Idol...hoorah! Last week I watched majority of the Philly and Dallas auditions. As usual, they were hilarious and entertaining, but the best part was the judges (namely Simon's) reactions. It's been a week, so I can't remember the specifics, but I believe tonight they are in San Diego! I'll be watching...

4. Last Saturday Matt and I bought Reagan some new pants at Childrens Place. They were so adorable. One was jeans and the other was cargo. I thought they were 2 for 15 dollars. They were actually 15 dollars each. So when I put them on Reagan yesterday morning, I wasn't too disappointed that they didn't fit around her waist. I returned them and ran into a huge sale that they were having! I scored big time. I got her 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants (that fit) for 15 dollars. The accountant in Matt was very proud of me for returning 2 items for 30 dollars and getting 5 items for 15.

5. Matt always laughs at me because I love to schedule and write things in my planner. I usually consult it in the evenings. He sometimes will sneak in and schedule things for me, like:

7:00 get up
8:00 shower
8:15 do hair

You get the idea. I do not schedule like that, but he teases me anyways. He thinks it is funny. SOOOO, you would think that I would have my dates right? Well apparently not because on Saturday I called to wish my brother a Happy Birthday and he very nicely pointed out that he would enjoy it the next day. I could have sworn that last Saturday was January 20th. I guess it was actually the 19th.

18 months strong

This morning was Reagan's 18 month check up and she is still so healthy! Matt and I have quite the knack for producing linebackers, too, as her sweet doctor politely pointed out that she will do extremely well in sports. She is very strong and solid. Her weight is at 31 lbs and 15 oz, right where we thought it was. She is off the charts as far as percentile. I am not sure about her height, I just know that she is in the 50th for that. Her weight is really the only thing I pay attention to. She received two shots--Hep A and Chicken Pox--which left her screaming in tears. She struggled and kicked so much the the first leg prick came right out and the nurse had to stick her again. For the second time that morning, I had someone else tell me my daughter was "very, very strong." Reagan is actually almost 19 months (this week), but due to our insurance changing this year, this was the soonest I could get her in. We are so glad to be back on Kaiser, by the way. Last January, we switched over to cheaper insurance (a PPO) because Kaiser raised their rates. All was well, except for the fact that I had my medical year from hell. I have never had a PPO before, but I will never do it again. I received like 4 bills for one procedure or visit! There was a period of time where not a day went by that I didn't receive a bill of some sort in the mail. So when insurance time came up last month at Matt's work, we gladly switched back to our HMO.

What has my athletic 18 month old been up to? Well, she loves to wear her Snow White shoes around the house. She is so cute in them. I tried to get a video, but it didn't turn out well. She loves Little Einstein and will "pat-clap" on demand these days. She is talking and jabbering up a storm. Her vocabulary consists of: "mom " "dad" "I'm sorry" (she says that one like twenty times a day) "whats that?" "up" (sounds like "upp-ah"--thanks Lindsey!) "shoes" "soooooft" and "rooooooll"

The other day Matt made some waffles for us and Reagan loved them so much. It could have been that Matt is a wonderful cook or the fact that he put chocolate chips in them! All is well with Reagan!

Dogs

Have you ever noticed that some animals look like their owners? Dogs, in particular. It can be seen in the coloring of the dog, but mostly is found in the expression and body shape. For instance, in the mornings I usually pass a woman walking (sometimes jogging) with her dog. The dog is a sleek, trim black dog and the woman is a tall and athletic with dark features. A few minutes later I pass a short, stocky man that is walking his two pudgy basset hounds. Coincidence? Do owners gravitate towards a dog that they can relate to? Or after a while, do you and your animal take on the characteristics of each other, such as sometimes happens with you and your spouse after a great deal of time being married. Just wondering.

I should also note that this doesn't apply to everyone that has a dog. I can think of many friends and family that don't look like their pets.

There has got to be some sort of name for this phenomenon.

Adjusting

The holidays are over, the dreaded tax season is beginning and we have been experiencing some crazy rainfall. Given these conditions, I have spent the last week feeling slightly sorry for myself, then I spoke on the phone today with my family in Utah. The snow they have been receiving makes the California rain seem trivial in comparison. For instance, my sister spent 2 hours trying to get from her home in Bountiful to school at Weber, only to find roads and freeways closed. People were sliding off the road left and right and the amount of accidents couldn't even be counted. I am sure she will blog about it (right, Linz?) so maybe check out her site in the near future to read more on it.

Reagan is little Ms. Personality these days. I thought coming home from Utah would be so hard for her since she had been around nonstop action for 10 days, but she has been adjusting rather well. She loves to play with me and Matt. Her favorite things to do lately are to jump from the cedar chest in our room onto the bed (more of a fall than a jump, really), and play with her dolls, including feeding them, hugging and kissing them and the other day I walked in and caught her trying to put a diaper on the baby! Her quick mind and instinct to learn and pick up on the things we do is fascinating to me.

Have you seen American Gladiator? We have. I am kind of ashamed to say it...that I find pleasure out of seeing half-naked body building men and women running around, trying to beat the crap out of some tiny contender. When Matt and I first tuned into it, I thought, you have got to be kidding me, let's change this stupid channel. Ten minutes later, I was asking Matt to please check back and see if it had returned from commercial. Crush and Toa are my favorite gladiators. I think Matt likes the dude with the dreads and the chick that does the roundoff handspring thing.

I miss The Office

Seriously, my thursday nights are lame now.

Matt and I felt the emptiness this last Thursday as we sat down to watch a re-run that we had probably already seen 30 times, only to find that it had been replaced by some lame reality show crap. Didn't the Donald have his 15 minutes of fame like 5 years ago? I am not dogging on those of you who may have tuned into it, but I really can't stand quality shows being replaced with D-list actors and actresses who are looking to make it big by pretending like what they are doing is reality t.v. when in reality they are acting and in real life, REALLY can't act.

I might have to get out my Season 2 of The Office and watch it over again.

If you are looking for some good laughs, 30 Rock and the older series Arrested Development provide similar comedy.

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!