Random Updates

We have had a lot going on in our house lately, these last few weeks have been busy ones. We made a trip to Utah (minus Matt), we had two sets of visitors come see us, and you can read about those down below. But behind the scenes? Here is what we are up to:

Princess Reagan is loving her activities these days. She is so into school and learning. She asks for paper at least 5 times a day and will use it to color, draw and practice all her letters. She is starting to sound things out and can now tell me what letter a certain word starts with. I am proud of her for her zest for learning. She goes to ballet once a week and it is a definite highlight. She likes to come home and dance around, chasse-ing and plie-ing and telling me, "mom this is what we do in dance." She loves to go to church and is really enjoying primary. Some funny things Reagan has said lately:

On St. Patrick's Day, someone in her preschool class had a birthday party. She brought in cookies and Reagan told her teacher, "I don't think I should have cookies because my dad gives me lots of candy!"

Last night, a member of our Stake Presidency stopped by to talk to us. When we were settling down onto the couches, Reagan grabbed my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book (which I have been finishing up the last couple of days) and said VERY loudly, "Here, mom! Here's your scriptures!"

We sure love our Reagan!

Sweet Nolan is the quintessential 2 year old, but he is getting better and better each day. He is starting to talk quite a bit and loves to tease and laugh. He understands what we say, which allows us to reason with him. Such as "Nolan, do you want a time out?" (He shakes his head). "Then you better stop that now!" He is very social and loves to follow kids around and laugh. But he also has a soft side. He will randomly walk up to me and give me a gentle hug, putting his head on my leg or lap. He loves to be held and carried around. He likes to snuggle me when we first wakes up from his nap. And everytime he gets an owie, he brings it to me to kiss. It is so fun to watch how my kids play together these days. It is a frequently heard in our household the words, "Come on, Nolan, come play with me!" To which he responds, "YESSSS!" You can tell they love each other and as a parent, that feels so good.

It has been a while since I have posted about tv shows, but I wanted to give them a shout out now and let you all know that yes, I still waste hours a week watching these shows. They change all the time, though. If I even get the slightest hint of feeling bored, I will stop watching a show. Not worth my time. On Sunday nights, we love watching The Amazing Race. This season is especially fun because it is couples from the previous few seasons. I tuned into a few episodes of The Bachelor this season, so I made sure to watch the final few episodes. While I am so glad Brad chose Emily, she doesn't seem that into him? Right? I think he is such a great guy, I hope she is right for him. I gave up Glee on Tuesday's. It didn't hold my interest anymore and the storylines were a bit much for me. But I LOOOVE Parenthood, its one of our favorites. Wednesday is our Modern Family/Survivor night. I haven't quite picked sides yet, but I am happy to see Russell gone and hoping Matt stays. And my favorite night of all.....Thursdays! So I am kind of over Vampire Diaries. They went on haitus for over a month and well, time helped me forget Damon, Stefan and Elena. But you know what, I will probably watch anyways when they air again in April. But for now, The Office (Michael is proposing!) and Parks and Rec keep me laughing! Ron Swanson alone is worth tuning into P and R.

I have been asked to be the level leader for 3rd years at girls camp this year! While I am a little apprehensive about being in charge, I am thinking it will be a good time. For year three, we get to do a three day, two night hike. It is a pretty steep climb from what I hear. We will be doing a lot of preparatory hikes for this. I am excited to be with my girls from last year. I have thought a lot about them in the last six months, so to be with them again will be good. Well, that is about it right now. Life is good and we love you all!

The Rasmussen's visit the Rasmussen's

Jeff and Selly came to visit us last weekend! They stayed a couple of days with us before they headed down the coastline enjoying their spring break.

On Saturday we went into San Francisco's Union Square, riding the train. I had it confirmed to me in person that Nolan officially LOVES the train! He sat like a big boy in his seat the whole time and kept saying, "WHOA!!! Train! Choo-choo! WHOA!!"

Not long after we arrived, the St. Patrick's Day parade began on Market Street.

Reagan got lots of attention, mostly because she has red hair! She got some beads, lots of candy and a new red-haired doll. These are our kind of parades.

After some shopping and lunch, we headed back home.

We watched both BYU games with the Rasmussen's...one a triumph, the other a disappointment. Here are the kids watching them pull away. The last of our round of visitors for a few months, at least!

Thanks for coming Jeff and Selly!

Baby Noah comes to play!

For weeks now, my kids have been really excited to see "Baby Noah" and his parents of course! Noah is actually 1 year old and not quite a teeny baby anymore, but I guess all kids are considered babies to Reagan and Nolan? Anyways, we had a great time! We went to the city and toured Alcatraz.

Lori, Nick and Noah in front of Pier 39
Reagan and Noah

Matt took the kids in on the train and met us at the pier. The entire day Nolan kept exclaiming "choo-choo....BOAT!" He was pretty jazzed about taking the boat over to the island and now has a sort of new obsession. Here is a view of the San Francisco from Alcatraz.

A view of the Golden Gate from Alcatraz.

Nolan and mom (and Nick and Noah) in front of the city.

Our family posing for a very windy shot! (You would think that after experiencing chilly wind like this Nolan would want to wear his jacket...but nope!)

Cool eagle outside of the jail.

This was the dining hall in Alcatraz. Matt thought the saying was something I would like, "Take all you want, but eat all you take." In other words, don't waste food! That one was for my kids...

We especially enjoyed the audio tour this time around. Matt and I saw a documentary on the 3 escaped convicts that were never found and it was cool to see in detail exactly how they escaped. We saw the vent through which they crawled (tiny, they must have weighed 70 pounds?) And the venting system behind the walls where they slipped out. The big question remains...did they make it or did they die in the bay? You decide!

The rest of our week was a lot of fun, hanging out with the Moog's! Thanks for coming to visit us, we had a blast and can't wait to see you guys again :):)

Road Trip!

We took a really fun road trip out to Utah the last week in February to see family! I am so glad to have Laura as my friend that we can do these fun things together. Our kids love each other and got their fill with 12 hours each way in the car! We watched the weather for about 24 hours straight, deciding whether to make the trek over the mountain pass in snowy weather. We found a few hours break Saturday morning, so we headed out. The pass was very clear on the road and it was really pretty with the freshly fallen snow! We hit some traffic near the summit, but other than that, we were stopping for lunch in Sparks about 4 hours later.All was going well until we hit snow about an hour outside of Elko. We stayed the night in Elko. I think Laura and I each got about an hour of sleep that night, LOL. There is nothing quite like sharing a bed with your toddler. But we made it to Salt Lake early Sunday morning and parted ways.

Our week was a pretty good one. I ate Cafe Rio 3 times, saw family and the kids got to play with their cousins.
Here is Nolan, Reagan and Jane sitting in a Ben Franklin display.

Kristen had us over for lunch and so that the kids could play!

We had dinner in Provo one night, eating Red Robin hamburgers and then let the kids toss coins into the fountain. Reagan, Emma, Nolan, Chase and Jane. And all the adults in the background watching them splash :)

Emma, Grandma and Reagan

One of our days was spent going to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. Here is Little Red Reaganhood.

Reagan playing doctor. Not many pics of Nolan....he didn't leave the train section and he was angry most of the time anyway, yelling at kids who dared to enter the train section with him.

We spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen and got to see our cousins.

Reagan and Grandpa My sister bought a house and we got to go inside of it. Here is her first pic in front of it!

The grandkids doing p90X or whatever it is called:) Doing chin-ups. It is crazy how much Nolan loved to do them, too. For skinny arms, he sure can hold his weight well.

Reagan and Whitney

We sure loved seeing family and are looking forward to the next time we come out...which won't be as cold and snowy! Love to all!

Da Flu

I am playing hooky today! And it actually doesn't feel good. We have missed church the last 2 weeks because we were out of town and traveling both Sundays. Well, now our family has been stricken with the flu. As Nolan woke up on a happy note today, Reagan woke up sick so it is another day at home!

And these pictures that follow are extremely old! I started a post about 2 weeks ago and never finished it. So here you go:

We had a treadmill competition one night. Reagan likes to go fast on the treadmill, but she can't go as fast as mom and dad. So Matt and I ran as fast as we could for a minute. I can't remember how fast I went, but it was too much and I stopped after 30 seconds.

The first weekend in February, we had an overnight retreat with the Young Women in my ward! We went to a cabin up near Sonora. It was a quick getaway, but the girls bonded in that amount of time. It was good for them. (siiiiiiiideways pic)

We went and played in the snow the next day. It was like 60 degrees in the mountains and after sledding, most of the girls removed their jackets.

Its kind of funny that I am posting pics of my YW, since most of you don't even know them, but I thought the pictures themselves were really great. I love the snow spraying up into their faces and their expressions.

My kids will only eat "snacks," so we refer to mealtimes as "snack." Well, this was a real snack and one they love to have. I put surprises in their mini muffin pans. I usually search around the cupboards and fridge for random items to put in them and they love some of the things they end up with. Today the big hit was pepperoni slices.

Reagan likes to have her picture taken.

Reagan and her friend Addie putting on a show for me!

Reagan cutting off a chain on her countdown trip to Utah. Again, old picture. We got back from Utah a week ago :) We went with the Berrett's and Addie made Reagan a chain to countdown. It was a fun way to pass time till we left.

We have a tradition for Valentines Day to eat in. In the past we have ordered takeout from Chili's and ate on our nice dishes. This year I did a little extra and made stuff from home. Well, sort of made....Costco did most of the work for me! Our menu was panko-breaded shrimp for appetizer. Tomato soup with parmesan crisps (Trader Joes did the work). Spinach, feta and carmalized onion pizzas on flatbread (I did the work, with recipe credit to Our Best Bites). They were delish and Matt even loved them! That is saying quite a bit since he isn't a big fan of meals that don't contain meat. The kids got their own marinara and mozzarella cheese pizza. My inspiration for these pizzas was a recent meal at Cheesecake Factory, where I had their pear and gorgonzola pizette. Uh, yeah, to die for. I have been craving it ever since. These were a good second.

It was a good Valentines Day spend with the ones I love most :)

Some January Lovin

Wow. Today is one of those days where I remember why I live in California. Even with our school budget cuts, sucky real estate market and dramatic politics, it is nearly 70 degrees today. I registered my first born for kindergarten today. Surreal, I tell you! We had a picnic lunch outside, then both my kids took naps. Reagan has not napped forever. It has been nice. And here I am, blogging about it. The bond between bubs and sis continues to flourish. They really love each other. They fight like crazy and tears come, but in the end, the love is there.

Reagan climbed the wall at REI. This was a fun experience for her and if we had spent all day in the store, instead of just an hour, then she would have climbed over and over. I am glad I had my camera :) She was so proud of herself.

The train obsession with Nolan continues. He sleeps with his trains, he walks around all day with his trains, he plays with them. He calls them his "choo-choo's." He is normally a great sharer, but hates to share his beloved trains.

We took the kids to ride the steam train at Tilden Park. Nolan was a little scared at first, but he ended up enjoying it and the whole ride home was talk of "blah blah blah, choo-choo!"

We caught a great view on the way home from Tilden Park. This is a view of the bay bridge leading to San Francisco.

Matt scored a train table at clearance for 20 bucks at Target and it is now placed in my "formerly staged well" living room. Oh well :) The kids love playing in here and it is large. I always knew that my furniture would get pushed back for train tables and legos.

My dear friend Laura turned 30 and we kidnapped her and surprised her with a girls night out at Cheesecake Factory. It was a success and we had a great time with some equally great food! Yowza----the cheesecake is out of this world. I think I peed straight sugar for several days :)

We got new windows!!! This (along with our cheap bathroom makeover, which I will reveal another day) is the official completion of our home improvement process. Other than small projects here and there, we have upgraded it to our liking. We are spent (financially and physically) and are ready to just take it easy and build our lives and bank account back up. But don't they look nice :) Sometimes I find myself just staring off into the distance and I ask myself, "what am I staring at?" And I realize, "oh, its my windows!" They do look that good. Holla!

Last weekend a friend brought over a train set that her son never played with and she got it at a garage sale. I did not expect what she brought over to be the GeoTrax railroad set. Wow, my kids played ALL WEEKEND with it. The batteries are still going strong...

This is Nolan's smile when he says "CHEEEEEESE!"

It really has been a busy January. I am not used to this, as this is normally a slow, blues-y month for me. I got a new calling as Assistant Director of Stake YW Athletics, so now I am helping with volleyball every Saturday morning, through end of February. I also was asked to be the 3rd year leader for Girls Camp this summer. Oh and we are driving out to Utah with Laura (my 30 year old friend *wink, wink*) and her kids at the end of the month. Matt's dominating in ward basketball, and he is a happy camper. So February is not slowing down either. Life is good!