March 4th, where are you?

Any guesses as to what the new JAM-baby is gonna be? I am saying a girl.

I know that I sound like a bad sport (pun intended), but I really don't care much for watching the Winter Olympics. I am just not a big winter sport person, I really love the Summer Olympics, though. I am even more put out this year since it means hiatus for my 2 favorite shows. I don't think I even noticed the 2006 Winter Olympics because of working, pregnancy and roadshow. But I DO have very fond memories of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake. You see, that is where Matt saw the light and asked me out and we started dating *again.* I thought he would never come around. We went out a couple of times in fall 2001, but then there was a big break. He called me out of the blue February 2002 to see if I wanted to go see "Light of the World" with his family, the production that was being put on at the Conference Center in honor of the Olympics. I'll bet he is so glad he did because this is what he got:

Mosaic Park

In Danville there is this park with a mosaic tiled snake going back and forth down a hill. We went there! The snake was not what it cracked up to be, but the park was unique and it was a beautiful day in January. Plus In-N-Out is down the street.

I think my kids look really cute. I guess I am biased. Nolan was going down the slide, just laughing his head off. They are growing closer each day. I love this.

Nolan is now 13 months, wait, what??? Yeah, that is right, where did the time go? Bubs is crawling marathons every day and starting to stand up. No steps by himself though. Maybe next month? His eating is getting better since I stopped giving him so much milk. He is sleeping really well at night, as long as he isn't sick! He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Baby Beethoven. He is such a happy boy and blessing in our home.

Reagan is quite the hilarious chicky. She loves all things Tinkerbell and rocking out to the song "I Gotta Feeling" by Black-Eyed Peas. She is also known to break out dancing when the intro music to The Office and NCIS comes on. We love this. She is our little singer and usually is giving her own performance to the other customers at Safeway and Costco. The other day she was picking out a "prize" at Chuck-E Cheese with her tickets and lo and behold, she picked the toy microphone. She sure loves Nolan and is quick to help me out with him. She still loves riding bikes and playing with her dolls. She needs a haircut, maybe my next post will contain more info on that.

How about The Office? Andy Bernard, aka 'Nard Dog, is sure pulling out the chops. He is stealing each episode for me, love his character. And Kelly, who like Andy used to annoy me, makes me laugh. I am glad Jim is through as co-manager. Next new episode, March 4th after the Olympics, is called THE DELIVERY....you can probably guess what that will entail. What will the JAM baby be called? We might need a new moniker for them. I can't wait for that episode, go fast rest of February! Speaking of other shows, how about Vampire Diaries, huh? I know I am probably speaking to only Bethany, Lindsey and Loni since pretty much no one else watches the show or will admit that they do ;) Poor Damon, poor Grams, Bonnie sure acted that one well. I was in tears at the end. I found the whole opening of the tomb anti-climactic without Katherine down there. But I do think the writers were smarty pants for doing that, it will open up many future storylines that will be most interesting. I have a feeling that we will meet Katherine one day...I just know :)

We ended up trying a new place for Valentines Day Eve (Saturday night). Elephant Bar, here in Concord. It was really good!! I think we found a new favorite place. Matt and I walked the mall and read books at Barnes and Noble. Our perfect date night :)

I was feeling a little nuts one day and signed up for a half marathon on June 5th. I am nervous and excited for this one. Two weeks ago I upped my runs from 3 miles to 6 miles overnight and since then, have had some knee aches. Runners knee, maybe? I took it easy, feeling good, strengthened my quads and now I will probably take it a bit slower and build it up. If you know any good running tunes, let me know, my ipod needs well over 2 hours worth of music!

Love to you all!

Television and Words of a 3 year old

Earlier today I was blow drying my hair and my kids were playing with the play kitchen and food in the front room. I hear Nolan crying rather dramatically and go see what the problem is.

Reagan held up a piece of fake ravioli and says "this got thrown at him." So I say, "well your the only one in the room, so you must have thrown it."

She insisted it wasn't her. "I do not know who threw it at him!" I guess it was a ghost.

The other day we were outside and passed a woman with a nose ring. Reagan says *loudly* "Her nose has an owie."

In other news, big TV night tonight!! All new Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, and my new favorite, The Vampire Diaries. I know, I am ashamed to admit it, but this show is really good and addicting and even my mom loves it!! Each new episode leaves me hanging with my mouth open and waiting with baited breath for the next 7 days till another one. There are so many plots twists and things going on and you just LOVE the characters. I can't explain it, just watch it for yourself. I know that many of the recent episodes are found online. The first 5 or so episodes are decent, but from 6 on get really really good. Tonight is episode 13, I can't wait. My sisters and I (and now my mom, right, mom?) analyze each episode Friday morning with each other and our predictions. No more said, just give it a shot. I think it is much better than Twilight. And also, it is nothing like Twilight, which is hard to tell in the first 2 episodes.

As for The Office, I just love the new Andy/Erin connection and dying to see where they take that. And I think that Jim will be getting a demotion soon, which will be nice. There can only be one Michael in the office. And he needs his old hairstyle, fancy new Jim isn't cutting it for me.

These are pretty much my only shows as of late. I gave up NCIS and The Biggest Loser for now since I got called into Young Womens and my Tuesdays are with the youth. A MUCH better trade, these kids and the women I work with are amazing.

Good times, good times. The kids will go to bed on time tonight so that I can devote my 2 hours a week to the tube.

The Real LC

Move over, housewives of Orange County. Las Cruces (LC) is THE place to be these days. I got to fly down there over MLKJ weekend to see both the Moog family and my brother Lance and his family. What a treat. I didn't miss my kids at all for the first 24 hours. I promise I did after that, though. My mom flew with me out there and I couldn't believe how quickly that flight went by. She and I never stopped talking for like the entire 2+ hours. I loved being one on one with her, we never get that!

I sure am proud of Lance, KT and their family. I know it wasn't easy for them to up and move somewhere they had never been, but they did, and they have embraced it and adjusted really well!! Lance entertained us with some crazy stories and flashed his badge at me a few times. Our first night in, they had Lori, Nick and Noah over and they had smoked a pork roast all day. It wasn't done to eat then, but I had some later that night, and it was really tasty! KT has totally redone much of their house and it is beautiful!
The kids have this big yard to play in, not gonne lie: TOTALLY JEALOUS! We ran around a bit outside and they taught me how to play cops and robbers on scooters and I taught them a little mix up of hide and seek/kick the can! I couldn't believe the weather: it was snowing when we boarded the plane in Utah and two hours later, we sat in 70 degree sunshine.

Pretty Autumn

Elijah, who cracked me up with his 3 year old antics because I saw my little Reagan all day in him!!!

Lance busted out his gear for Easton to try on, here he is placing the helmet.

I got to see the new addition: BROWNIE the dog!

That is totally a real gun Easton is holding, but not loaded. Good kid, too, he held it for the picture, then immediately handed it back to dad, saying he was done with it. That gear looked so heavy, I don't know how Lance does it!

I spent the next day on the other side of the LC with my high school BFF Lori and her husband and newborn son Noah! He was such a cutie!

He had on his Charger gear for the game, but they still lost. Boo. His room was sure decorated cute, between Lori and KT's homes, I left with more decorating ideas than a PB catalog. Hopefully someday soon I can put them to use.

We ate true southwestern food for lunch at La Posta in Old Mesilla. No ill effects were had on my stomach, it was a tasty success.

Oh, the cuteness of this little guy.My last night there, Lori cooked a delish meal, toasted ravioli. It was amazing, I must have ate like half those raviolis. She understands, though, because I eat a lot! ;)

Hopefully 2 years won't pass again before I can head back to the LC!

Utah

With the exception of Nolan's birth last year, January has never been sweeter to us. We got the rare opportunity to travel to Utah and myself to New Mexico to visit family and friends. We enjoyed our old favorites, but made some new discoveries:



Boondocks in Kaysville was amazing entertainment. Matt and I became fans of Lasertron, their version of laser tag and the best one I have ever played, not saying much since I've played like twice ;) But it was still awesome. And the Kiddie Cove was a hit with the kids, Reagan played in it on two occasions and Matt and I totalled like 4 games of laser tag. Good fun for winter and summer.

The weather was cold, but decent and we got some snow the last couple of days. The kids loved lounging around in pajamas and using all the space in both grandparents house. They are not used to that.

We met my 4 month old niece Jane for the first time and Reagan to such a liking to her. Anytime Jane was around, there was Reagan, cooing to her and talking in her in a lovey-dovey voice.

The first time that Reagan spotted the candy machine in my dads basement, she coyly said, "Grandpa, what's this?" A white elephant gift that benefits all generations.

Tickling the ivories.

Seeing family is such a treat. Lorenzo, aka Lotoja, with his nutso antics. We got to celebrate his and Landen's birthday while out there!

Hanging with the sisters and madre. Reagan was getting ready to go sledding and because we are Californians and don't own very warm clothes for our kids, she has about 4 shirts on and 3 pairs of pants, 2 socks, etc. I guess it worked.

Reagan and Emma played and played and played like little girls do. Craziness going on in the finished basement!

Reagan missed her "dolls" all week and repeatedly asked for them. I flew in a few hours before Matt and Reagan, so I arranged her dolls on the couch so that when she walked in, it looked like they were all waiting for her. She loved it and I patted myself on the back for being such a genuis.

Other fun things we enjoyed while in Utah:

1. Matt got together with his family on MLKJ day while I was in New Mexico.

2. Cory and Kristen Edwards had us over for dinner and we got to see their new home.

3. We ate Cafe Rio twice in 5 days.

4. We visited with Matt's sister Lori and her kids and played duck duck goose in the basement.

5. Celebrating Loren and Landen's birthdays our last night there.

Guess who is ONE??

Our one and only Nolan turned one years old today!! It is hard to believe how fast that year really flies. Actually I can believe it. At times it seems like it really flew, but there were times that really dragged on! Just being honest ;) We are so grateful for this colicky infant who turned into a happy, cheerful smiling kid!! Thanks for blessing our lives, bubs.

In honor of the big day, our most recent photo shoot is below.

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!