Reds

All the redheads. The other day at church I went in to nursery to take Ruth potty and one of my friends was in there helping/watching her son and she said "I just walked past the library and the lady was saying that the 'CUTEST girl just walked past with the most BRIGHT red hair and she was just adorable!'" and my friend said, "I knew she was talking about Ruthie!" Everyone comments on Ruth's red hair...always. It's almost like she is a celebrity. Also, being a redhead means you are automatically inducted into their own secret club--kind of like a clan. They love you and you love them instantly because you have red hair. It's a special bond. Every single redhead we see always comes up to say how much they love her hair. I never knew about this until we had Ruth, even though I have two redheaded sisters. So, to celebrate our redheads we took some pictures of just them.

Orrin was not very excited about being part of this clan. 

Kayli with Orrin, Jethro, Emeline, Ruthie, Ethne, Eli, Oskar, Miriam, Andrea 

Some of the outcasts were chillin' on some sleeping bags on the lawn. My nephew Talmage is seriously SO GOOD with kids and babies, he loves them and my kids love him back!

And randomly, another picture of the three amigos that are only weeks apart. It goes blurry if I blow it up. Oskar is definitely a redhead. Kayli is in denial but I think Wyatt has some definite red tendencies. And then there's Will, all dark only now all blonde. What cuties.

6 months

Will is almost 7 months, and I am just getting to his 6 month post. I cannot believe how fast he's growing and I wish I could just squish him down and keep him my small little baby forever. He is such a great baby and he is so snuggly and loving. He loves to smile at Ruth but when she comes close enough to touch him he lets out a yelp--just in preparation, ya know, in case she decides to push or poke or bite him. Poor kid. He doesn't sit up yet, but he rolls around like a crazy man. He'll roll all the way across the living room to get to what he wants, which means I can't just set him any old place these days. He loves to be carried and moving-in the baby carrier, in the stroller, in the car. He just got his TOP teeth in last weekend (the 11th) which means he is now a big man of FOUR teeth! We had a little heart to heart about this at 4am the other day and hopefully he's going to be kind with his teeth from now on. He loves to eat real food and since he's turned in to this skinny little guy the dr. recommended giving him the opportunity to have as many calories a day as possible--so he gets to eat as much as he wants! His dark hair has turned blonde this summer, which Sterling's did (and so did mine a little bit) for a couple of years before darkening up again, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. He also loves his blanket and grabs on really tight before falling asleep.

He weighs 15.5 pounds and is 25 7/8 inches tall. 

Top teeth. Scary picture, haha.

His croup this past weekend gave me a couple of special opportunities to enjoy him, and I am so glad! I got to sit in the steamy tub with him and he was having the time of his life! He loves the tub, especially when he doesn't have to worry about his sister drowning him, and he will splash and giggle forever. He used to sleep through the night, but during all of our camping trips he did away with that, and now he usually wakes up once around 4am to eat. He loves to cuddle and will actually fall asleep in my arms (Ruthie never did that) and its been fun to just hold and rock him the past couple of evenings underneath the humidifier :). He'll stop eating just to smile at me and it completely melts my heart. We love you little man, thanks for being such a great baby! 

Necklace, anyone? He has a TIGHT grip. 

My two handsome men. I just LOVE Will's face in this picture. So perfect.

This is how he's spent a good portion of the last couple of days, poor sick little man. This way I can still cook and clean and do dishes and fold laundry, and he can still feel close. He holds on like a little monkey and I love to feel his little arms around me.

Happy six months Will, we think you're the best baby! xoxo

Cabin Fun

We made a second run up to the cabin this year with Sterling's family. It was great to just kick back and relax and play a lot of board games...plus they introduced me to glow stick dancing which has got to be the coolest thing ever.

Our kids were up before anyone else, of course, and one of the loveliest things was the sun streaming in on them while they played. Of course my camera didn't like the beautiful sun-streams, so it either went blurry or flashed. Oh well.

 We went on a hike to Nowhere, haha, because three wrongs turns do NOT make a right. 

All the boys. Marlowe, Brandon, Ethan, Sterling with Will and Jaxen and Kaleb in front.

 It took me a little while to get into the excitement of glow stick dancing, due to a book my sister had told me to read. The Only Alien on the Planet. Kind of reminded me of A Separate Peace. But faster-paced, a girl main character, and a much quicker read. I loved it. In fact, I stayed up in bed with a flashlight and finished it that night. It's been a LONG time since I've done that. But oh, the memories of my parents taking away flashlights and books and coming in again and again. And the memories of how much that killed some of my college tests. Sigh. 

Point of this story, besides how ridiculously good that book was, is that glow stick dancing was AMAZING. Their moves. It was so hilarious I couldn't stop laughing. I tried to video it, but my camera was not good enough to change the lighting and catch the movement. Oh well.

Marlowe

Ethan, Marlowe
Kaleb and Jaxen

Jenny also participated but somehow none of those pictures look even halfway decent. Oh well. Party with glow sticks is a must for everyone to try! It was a great end to a really great weekend, thanks everyone!

The Rest of the Rasmussen Reunion

Day 2 of the reunion we had CLASSES. Potions class, and whatever the class is called where you learn how to cast spells. There were quite a few more sick-o's but there were still lots of kids who had a blast. Also, there was HP jeopardy for a younger audience and older audience, and then, due to the high volume of sick kids, a HP marathon was started down in the basement. 

Kali, Jethro, Lynnaea learning to cast spells!

Wyatt teaching about some potions

Lindsay Ann instructing the wands.

Brett and Leo joined in the potions class. I hear it was AMAZING, but I never actually made it in there.

Anders during potions.

One of the greatest parts of the reunion was the AWESOME reunion center we went to. It was right outside of Rexburg, ID. They had a slide that went down to a bunk room where all the kids slept. They had a little rock wall, a foosball table, ping pong table (which provided endless amusement for the adults when the kids were in bed...I must steal that video from Lindsay Ann's camera sometime SOON, its interesting to see my hubby get a little competitive because it is so rare.), a pool table, a hot tub, a swing set, a tennis court, a room with a basketball hoop and tons of little scooters and such, and every single room in the house was so KID-FRIENDLY. That was the best part. I didn't have to worry about Ruth breaking anything or getting into anything. They had lots of tables, high chairs, boosters, you name it. Oh, and one night Sterling and I snuck out and went canoeing on their little pond. The older kids tried to take pictures for us on their ipods, but they didn't turn out that great. It was fun though. After we canoed we sat in the hot tub and watched everyone try to write "Rasmussen" with sparklers. Unfortunately, due to a computer glitch, all the karaoke pictures and sparkler pictures and who knows what else, were lost. So these are what we have, enjoy!

Orrin, Sebastian, Jack, Devaney

The tower everyone made and I think they slept in it one night. 

My sweet sleeping baby.

Katelyn and Olivia, Ana and Danica

And last but not least, 

QUIDDITCH!!!!! 

Wyatt and Lindsay Ann's amazingness continued, and they set up an entire Quidditch match for us. Someone was designated snitch, they ran away with a ball attached to them, and someone chased them within a certain limited area. Everyone else played on the field with these AMAZING broomsticks (which got ditched due to their scratchiness) and we even had refs. It was so much fun to watch.

Olivia guarding her goals.

Miriam, Hazel, Katelyn (in the background I think it is Chad chasing Anders who was the current snitch.)

Not sure whats happening here, but I love Danica's hat. 

Everyone in the hot tub. Everyone.

Some of the sick-o's. 

My sweet little family.

We had such a GRAND time at the reunion this year, and it was SO AWESOME to be able to see everyone! We loved that reunion center so much that we voted to do it there every time from now on. I'm glad, since I am one of the next in line to plan the reunion, so we know it will be great even if I don't plan anything! Thanks Wyatt and Lindsay Ann for an awesome time, and see you in a couple years everyone! (Since there are no picture of the awesome traditional karaoke contest, let me just tell you, it was amazing. Garrett threw up, performed, and threw up again. It was awesome. We decided not to judge the performances since it was just a miracle that we made it through alive--there were five kids puking simultaneously. Yeah. Hopefully we can skip the stomach bug next time and just enjoy ourselves.I'll have to steal video footage from Megan so you can still see our song.)

41 Years

My parents have been married for 41 years today. That is pretty crazy. They have moved a LOT (I'm pretty sure mom said over 30 times last time we talked about it.) and worked a LOT and played a LOT and I am so thankful for their wonderful examples. 

I know I've posted this picture before, but its the only old one I have on my computer. I will remedy that soon I hope. Maybe dig up an old wedding photo?

They have also created a LOT of family. Look at how many of us there are from just two people! Thanks, mom and dad, I am so glad I have such a fabulous family!

Can't wait til Sterling and I hit 41 years--because you make it look awesome! You guys are the best!

Rasmussen Reunion 2013

The Jack and Lorie Rasmussen family (my parents) had a family reunion this year. 61 of us. That's right. My parents, their 9 kids, 8 spouses, 42 grandkids. 61. That is a lot of people for a reunion, and not even an extended one at that! It was a stupendous week. My sister Kayli and her family came all the way from Switzerland, Kami and her family came from Texas, Amy and her family came from Arizona, my brother Derek and his family came from Canada, and the rest of us from Morgan, Ogden, Clearfield,  and Logan. It was probably the best reunion ever. Minus the stomach bug that hit us full force. I have never seen so much puking in my life. 

 Yup. That's all of us. Kind of crazy. We were supposed to all be in our reunion shirts initially, but that got bagged when so many people had been thrown up on that not many shirts were left. My mom REALLY wanted a picture of everyone, and I don't blame her, its the first time we've all been together since before I married Sterling. There's always been at least one brother-in-law, or one family, that couldn't make it to a gathering and so we weren't ALL there. But this time we were. And man, was it ever epic. The first night my sister Kami's son Nicolas threw up, the next day about four more, and so on, until the night the family picture was taken (karaoke night) we had FIVE kids throw up simultaneously, and about twenty that were sick. It was rather sad, actually, we were all SO EXCITED to be together and have such a great time, and it was, just a little sick-fun. Haha. We got away rather lucky and only Ruth got sick, and she only threw up a couple of times...and the second and third time it was mostly just the apple juice that we had given her, so no big deal. I think my sisters Kayli and Kami had their six and five children ALL sick, and that was no fun for them. Poor guys.

My brother Wyatt and his wife Lindsay Ann were in charge of the reunion this year and they did a PHENOMENAL job (another reason why it was so, so sad about the sickness)! The theme was HARRY POTTER

and they went all out. Owls were sent to the kids with the list of items they needed to bring at the beginning of the summer, and the excitement just grew from there. It was a perfect theme to incorporate all the age groups of kids that we have. So first off, we were all SORTED!

Everyone watching the sorting. 

Ruthie getting sorted. SLYTHERIN!

I'm getting sorted. Slytherin!

Sterling, myself, Ruthie, and Will were all Slytherins. It was a great time. We had house points and everything. Any adult was able to give or take away points from a house when they saw kids helping/not helping. It was actually a great system for keeping kids helpful the entire time. (sidenote: Slytherins kind of got gypped. We had a lot of TINY tots on our team and only a couple of older kids, and several of those older kids were sick during competitions. True story. But its ok. Gryffindor can win, if only for traditions sake.) 

 Before being sorted into houses we all went through Diagon Alley and were given a sack-full of money. We bought wands and owls and basically prepared for Hogwarts! The kids loved it, Ruthie especially loved her owl, I think her Aunt Amy was a little dismayed that she had to pick up every color, hold it, and put it back before she could make her decision, haha, but Ruth thought it was great! After the sorting we had a grand FEAST. It was seriously amazing. Only my incredible brother Wyatt, aka the Chef, (have I ever mentioned how he fed me through my poor  college years? that man can cook!) could pull off such a feat for so many people (or want to attempt to), with the hard work of his wifey Lindsay Ann, of course. They had candles hanging from the ceiling, speeches at the beginning, and lots of food. It was grand. Ruth ate FIVE ribs all by herself. (also, have I ever mentioned how Ruthie is a carnivore? She'll eat meat over anything else any day.) Really they did such a great job and the kids were in heaven. It could not have been better. 

Seven of the nine of us had kids within about 18 months of each other. Starting with Sebastian being the oldest, and Ruth being the youngest. Thats a LOT of cousins for Ruth to have so much fun with! (Unfortunately right here she was VERY concerned about her shoe being sat on and in future pictures she's hitting, and the scenario continues...sigh.)

The next morning we had RACES. Of all sorts. Most of the kids were still healthy and happy at this point so it was a lot of fun!

Olivia, Danica, (wyatt), Tyson, Myles, Megs, Ana, Katelyn

Ana with Katelyn, Myles with Megs, Danica with Tyson, Olivia with Jethro 

Ana, Katelyn, and mom (go Slytherins!)

See how my mom and dad even joined in the piggy back race?

Egg toss. Lets see, left side: Emeline, Ethne, Anders, Cowen, Garrett, Tyson, Anders, ??? Right side: mom, Elena, Katelyn, Ana, Gideon, Danica, Wyatt, Brynne, Megs, Kali, Miriam, Olivia

Ruthie and Devaney giving hugs after Ruth was beat miserably. But she was cute while she did it!

Dad liked his job of handing out the licorice to all the participants :)

Ana, Danica, Katelyn, Megs, Olivia

I ran in this race. I also tripped over a hole (or my feet? it felt like a hole!) and lost dismally. At least Ruthie and I can stick together.
Megan, Kami, Kayli, Lindsay Ann, myself, Andrea, Amy, mom, Brooke

 We had a grand time playing water balloon volleyball. 

Tim and Andrea (with Harriet and Olivia photobombing)

Olivia and Lynnaea, with Jethro and Brett in the back

Such cute girls. Maloree, Brynne, Hazel, and Kiersten

Sterling and I playing.

And...more to follow!